In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, Clear Creek Community Church and our friends responded immediately to serve people in our community who suffered. Over 2,500 people volunteered. Individuals from Clear Creek Community Church, along with Acts 29 churches, other churches, friends, businesses and organizations from around the country contributed almost $700,000 to Harvey Relief efforts. In addition to what was given, CCCC’s strategic elders reallocated $250,000 from our People In Need fund to help with Harvey Relief efforts. Beyond the money and time given, some donated cars, supplies and other items. Church staff and volunteers led the relief efforts by working from early morning until late into the night.
From the beginning, our priorities were (1) to establish a relational connection with those who suffered, and (2) to assist home owners in the hard, dirty work of “mucking out” their flooded homes. To address our first priority, 160 volunteers connected regularly with affected families. To address the second priority, volunteers cleaned out an estimated 1,500 homes (850 are listed on the damage report), which saved home owners in our community $18,900,000!* CCCC has contributed another $30,000 of Bold Love funds to three of our Go Local ministry partners.
Additionally, volunteers:
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Organized the relief efforts,
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Distributed $25,000 in gift cards to meet urgent needs of flood victims,
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Provided laundry services for affected families, doing 1,900+ loads of laundry picked up from over 100 different locations,
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Cooked and delivered thousands of meals to victims and volunteers,
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Unloaded semi-trucks, warehoused and distributed donated supplies from around the country,
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Made thousands of personal contacts to assess needs, pray, listen to stories, schedule work, and encourage people,
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Provided an information-sharing workshop for the community on October 1 to provide guidance regarding: (1) insurance, (2) FEMA, (3) contractors, (4) mental health, (5) financial crises, and the like. The meeting was so helpful that FEMA asked to use the tools shared at the meeting as a resource for people recovering from the storm. Go to clearcreekrelief.org/resources for the online toolkit developed for this workshop.