Disciple: Hurricane Relief, Part 1: We are Marching (Collaboratively) in the Light of God!
By the Right Reverend Anne Hodges-Copple
Read Hurricane Response, Part II.
As Hurricane Florence churned and lumbered toward our mid-Atlantic and southern coastlines, diocesan Communications Director Christine McTaggart, Canon to the Ordinary Marlene Weigert and yours truly took part in an unusual breakfast club: a daily 8 a.m. conference call of bishops, canons, disaster response coordinators and communicators from dioceses across the areas of possible impact. Brought together and hosted by Episcopal Relief and Development for the days before, during and after Florence’s pummeling winds and rains, our virtual community shared genuine bonds of affection and expertise as we charted our courses of action.
Even those not in the storm’s path were part of the collaboration: the Rt. Rev. Sam Rodman took part in the calls before departing North Carolina just ahead of the hurricane to lead the long-planned pilgrimage to Botswana (page 18). Before leaving, Bishop Sam was involved in the development of our planned response. Technology allowed us to keep our bishop diocesan close to the heart of matters at home, even as he and his fellow pilgrims tended the bonds of affection with our companion diocese in Botswana.
The multi-diocesan system of support created ahead of Florence’s landfall kept our lines of communication open during the storm and expanded our capacity to respond quickly and effectively. By the grace of God and expertise of Episcopal Relief and Development and those involved at the diocesan level, this network of colleagues embodied the virtues of collaboration as we prepared, endured and responded to the devastating impact upon homes, schools, businesses and crops in the path of Hurricane Florence.
BEFORE THE STORM
Neither the success of the collaboration nor the effectiveness of response came from actions or relationships formed overnight. All were the result of relationships and collaborations that started long before the storm. McTaggart and Weigert, in partnership with Episcopal Relief and Development, have been working for several years with our parishes and missions to strengthen our local and regional disaster preparedness plans. Lessons learned during Hurricane Matthew helped us be better prepared and more effective this time around. Tools such as the Alert Media emergency communication system and the Episcopal Asset Map allowed us to know at a glance how our churches were faring and who had services to offer in terms of shelter, food and other assistance.
We knew to enlist the input and planning of those at the local level most likely to be directly impacted by the storm. Our local leaders knew exactly what help would be needed and connected with those likely to be able to assist. In keeping with that spirit of anticipation and collaboration, I called the new executive director of the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry (EFwM), Lariza Garzón, on her first day of work—just two days before the storm hit—to consider the particular situation of seasonal workers living in migrant camps. Due to the remote location of the camps, seasonal farmworkers are often the hidden and forgotten victims of destructive winds and rising waters.
One of the heartbreaking lessons Garzón learned after Hurricane Matthew through her work for North Carolina Legal Services is that the workers in the camps were cut off from sources of food and water during and long after the storm passed. We knew our seasonal workers would also lose their anticipated and necessary income due to crop damage, leaving them physically and economically stranded. I knew that if we could put Garzón and EFwM Program Director Juan Carabaña in touch with the willing and the able of the Diocese of North Carolina as well as Episcopal Relief and Development, the response would be extraordinary. And it was, as you can read in the account of their work with the Rev. Jim Adams and Christ Church, Raleigh (page 16).
The collaboration among our dioceses in North and South Carolina continue to benefit from the hard-won lessons of hurricanes past as well the experiences of our neighbors in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Being one, holy, catholic and apostolic church means we walk with our sisters and brothers across the Church in responding to natural disasters. These are not short walks but a journey of recovery that will last for years in some of the harder-hit areas. Mission teams for clean-up and rebuilding have started, and the need for these teams will last a good long while.
THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP
Our diocesan capacity to utilize meaningful partnerships was magnified by Hurricane Florence, but the story of collaboration goes much wider and deeper. Our ability to work together is not forged by natural disasters. On the contrary, what we are able to do in times of crisis grows out of the work we do day in and day out. The power of partnerships is one we are harnessing more and more as the world becomes ever more connected, and the results cannot help but astound and inspire.
At the 203rd Annual Convention of the Diocese of North Carolina, Christ’s Beloved Community/Comunidad Amada De Cristo will officially be welcomed as the newest congregation in our diocese. This church plant in Winston-Salem is a joint venture of the Diocese of North Carolina and the North Carolina Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. We have worked for more than four years in a careful, intentional process to bring forth an intercultural, bilingual, bi-denominational worshipping community.
Churches in Greensboro have come together to forge the Northern Greensboro Mission Zone, an alliance present to the needs of residents from other countries who are making Greensboro their new home. When last spring a tornado cut a path of destruction across residential areas in East Greensboro, a rich combination of committed Christ-centered relationships, asset mapping and assistance in navigating relief and recovery grants once again responded. Episcopalians and their partners are continuing to assist in rebuilding neighborhoods and generating new community grounded in the love of God though news trucks and cameras crews have turned their attention elsewhere.
Networks of partnership, collaboration, new creation and redevelopment crisscross our diocese. As the scope of Galilee Ministries of East Charlotte expands, the Galilee Council composed of Charlotte churches has been agile and adaptive in building out the governance structures and fundraising capacities to keep up with the demands of the ministry’s success. Over in Raleigh, excitement is building as clergy and lay leaders participate in the creation of a new Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) community organization dedicated to seeking and protecting the welfare of all Raleigh neighborhoods, families and employees. All Saints, Concord, with assistance from the Racial Justice and Reconciliation Committee, funds from Mission Endowment Board and expertise from RISE!, a Charlotte-based program for addressing systemic racism, convened Cabarrus County leaders for racial equity training (page 22).
Our capacity as the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement in North Carolina is expanding with the addition of two new staff members: the Rev. Canon David Sellery, our new canon for congregational mission, and the Rev. Daniel Robayo, missioner for Latino/Hispanic ministries. Robayo is having an immediate and fruitful impact on strengthening the lay leadership at La Guadalupana, Wilson, and San José, Smithfield, areas in the eastern part of our diocese where shifting demographics show us significant opportunities for church growth among our Spanish-speaking sisters and brothers. Sellery is working with the bishops and regional canons to implement a new model for bringing more vitality and sustainability to our more vulnerable worship communities.
Though news headlines may cast a long and discouraging shadow over our dreams, the light of
Christ shines more brightly in the discipleship of our fellow Episcopalians. As members of the Body of Christ we know we act in concert with God’s grace and our love of neighbors. Moving together our gifts are multiplied and our strengths are enhanced. When we reach out and collaborate with others to meet the needs in our communities, we are ambassadors of reconciliation and evangelists for the Dream of God. When “Jesus calls us o’er the tumult,” we are ready to respond: “Here I am, Lord.”
The Rt. Rev. Anne Hodges-Copple is the bishop suffragan at the Diocese of North Carolina.
