Bishop Jonathan Carey of Glad Tidings Tabernacle joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about the relief efforts for Jamaica and the Bahamas following Hurricane Melissa.
What is the 461 response?
Bishop Carey said, “I’m part of the chaplaincy core of the Assemblies of God Springfield and 461 response is a program. It comes from Psalms 46 and 1, where God is a present help in the time of trouble, and we teach churches and organizations that in a time of crisis and disaster, how we can become a caring community, a responding community, and a healing community and so I was in Jamaica about three days before the hurricane. I sit on a board One by One to Jamaica, where we build homes up in the mountains and we have a clinic and a school. So I got out of Jamaica about three days before the hurricane, and now what we are hoping to do is to send relief back to Jamaica that will be in the hands of the clinics and the schools to ensure that it gets to the right individuals.”
How has the response been so far in working to collect these very needed supplies?
Bishop Carey said, “It has been absolutely amazing. The residents of Key West have responded. Two churches in the Bahamas actually made monetary gifts for relief to Jamaica. The Monroe Detention Center has has responded. The Monroe School District has responded, as a matter of fact, in couple of minutes, they’ll they’ll be at my doorstep with two pallets of items for cleaning supplies that we’re going to load into the U haul to take to Miami. So it has been an unbelievable response. We have had the IFOC, the International Fellowship of Chaplains out of Texas, they have responded in a great way. So we’re now preparing ourselves, on Wednesday to take the items up to Miami, and they’ll be loaded on a 20 foot container, shipped into Kingston. It’s very difficult to get into the Montego Bay Area, and so it will go into Kingston and One by One to Jamaica will accept the delivery and make sure we get it into St James and St Elizabeth, which were the hardest hit areas.”
Is there air traffic coming into Jamaica?
Bishop Carey said, “The airports are open. Samaritans first responded, I think, within 24, 48 hours, and they have two planes and helicopters that are in, so the airports are open. The Montego Bay airport is open, but the roads are very difficult to get from the airport to the affected areas. The infrastructure could be better, and hopefully in the rebuild, we’ll be able to rebuild it stronger, but the the infrastructure, it’s susceptible to this kind of disaster. And then no one really predicts a hurricane level five.”
How are people faring in other areas that were hit by the hurricane?
Bishop Carey said, “The Dominican Republic had a lot of flooding. Haiti had a lot of flooding. The southern Bahamas has had some damage. So we’re working with a group called Hope Ships, individuals that have their own boats will join Hope Ships and take supplies. Our next effort will be to send some supplies into Long Island Bahamas. Hopefully, Hope Ships will be able to take that cargo in for us, just a lot of rain penetrating through the roofs and a lot of flooding. A lot of the disaster areas, when we talk about the six phases of a disaster, a lot of them are now going through what we call the honeymoon phase, honeymoon in the sense that there is tremendous support coming in. But in a few weeks, in a few months, a lot of those agencies will pull out as first responders, and then individuals will go from the honeymoon phase into the reality phase. So what we are hoping to do is to continue to send some supplies, especially to the clinics in the schools, anything from school supplies to sanitary products, etc., so that when those communities begin to shift from this honeymoon phase to the reality of it, we can still be there to help in some meaningful way. Normally, the recovery, the emotional recovery, can take two to three years. I am hoping next week to be in the area, and we have a program with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association called Sharing Hope in Crisis, where we train pastors and church leaders what to say and what not to say in a crisis and after a crisis. So that’s the second phase. Moving forward.
It’s important not to forget people affected by natural disasters even long after the storms have happened.
Bishop Carey said, “A lot of times, especially as first responders, and I oversee chaplains in 10 Caribbean and two African nations. So a lot of times as first responders, we come in, but then there has to be that handing of the baton and what the next stage is. We know that we can’t be there forever, but if we can help encourage and empower the national, then that process can continue, and individuals will be able to receive the spiritual and emotional care that is absolutely necessary in the long term recovery.”
How can people help?
Bishop Carey said, “They can reach out to us here at the church, we’re right next to Dairy Queen, the only Dairy Queen in Key West. They can visit our website, and they can contact us from the website. If they wish to give, they can they can give from the portal on the website under the category of missions, and just put Jamaica or Bahamas on it and keep us in prayer. We’re just thankful for the community of the of the Florida Keys. We have noticed, with some of the shutdowns, even our food giving program has increased by about 25% and so I’ll put it out there if there are individuals that need food items, we can help. Our food pantry is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from nine to noon right here at the church and if we have it, they can have it.”
For more information, click here: https://gttkeywest.org