Moderator views Hurricane Charley aftermath 

Ufford-Chase says recovery process will be
long-term

by Evan Silverstein   

       With drill in hand, the moderator of the 216^th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) stepped carefully around mangled piles of wreckage and debris to reach the street. At the River Haven Mobile Home Park here on a sun-drenched, humid September morning was a vast vista of personal loss as far as the eye could see.

       The chaotic landscape of pulverized mobile homes and twisted metal was the aftermath of Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 storm that ravaged southwest Florida in mid-August like a crazed vandal who showed only random mercy.

       The storm reached land on Aug. 13, eventually killing at least 27 people in the region and leaving thousands homeless. When Charley struck it upended trucks, twisted traffic lights, and lifted entire houses to the top of neighbors’ homes, leaving a trail of death and destruction.

       Two Presbyterian churches were wiped out in Peace River Presbytery by the powerful storm, which tore off rooftops, hammered steeples, caused water damage, and destroyed sanctuary windows at some churches. The homes of some Presbyterian pastors and members sustained serious damage.

       The widespread damage prompted Ufford-Chase to visit Peace River Presbytery, Aug. 31–Sept. 3.

       “I came because the people here are struggling to put their lives back together,” said Ufford-Chase, an elder at Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, AZ. “I think it’s the role of the church to be with them wherever we can.”

       Even as another hurricane named Frances was churning toward the Sunshine State, Ufford-Chase visited First Presbyterian Church in Punta Gorda to survey the damage from Charley. The church was virtually demolished by the storm, along with another site he visited, the Chapel by the Sea on Sanibel Island in North Fort Myers.

     Five other churches in Peace River reported minimal to moderate damage. Ufford-Chase visited three of them: First Church in Port Charlotte, First Church in Arcadia, and Burnt Store Presbyterian Church in Punta Gorda.

       Ufford-Chase also held informal discussion-and-answer sessions at Church of the Palms in Sarasota and First Church in Bonita Springs, both of which the storm spared. 

       The moderator spent most of his time in Florida surveying damaged Presbyterian churches, distributing food and water to migrant agricultural workers and talking with pastors, church leaders and presbytery executives.

       “It just makes me think about church,” Ufford-Chase said. “What does church mean in the midst of all of this? It certainly means response and caring for those who have been most deeply hurt. But how can we take pieces of what we learn from the crisis mode and turn them into who we are in the long term?”

      “I think our church is potentially in a great deal of danger,” Ufford-Chase said. “We’ve been kind of comfortable for so long that most of us don’t feel as if we’re in immediate danger. Therefore we’re not willing to take big risks and dream new, big dreams. I think it’s going to take moments like this across the church to help us figure out what that new thing looks like.”

       At First Church in Punta Gorda Ufford-Chase spoke with the Rev. Steve Mock, the church’s pastor, who said the community took a direct hit from Hurricane Charley when the storm traveled up Charlotte Harbor and through Peace River on a path directly over the church.

       The two men discussed how the 170-member congregation responded following the disaster and issues surrounding its membership in the aftermath. They spoke about plans to rebuild the church, trauma suffered by members grappling with the church’s destruction and in some cases lost or damaged homes.

         Ufford-Chase and Mock expressed relief that no members were seriously injured, especially after some could not immediately be accounted for following the storm.

      Traveling through Peace River Presbytery, Ufford-Chase saw mounds of trash stacking up on the curbs — ruined furniture, torn roofing, and general debris. He saw bent street signs or places where signs had once stood in many neighborhoods and along primary roads, including Interstate 75. He saw long lines for gasoline, a commodity in short supply since Charley.

       Emergency officials pronounced Charley the worst to wallop in the state since Hurricane Andrew tore through in 1992. Twenty-six deaths were directly linked to Andrew, which caused $19.9 billion in damage.

       Overall, Charley is blamed for killing 27 people in southwest Florida and causing an estimated $7.4 billion in insured damage alone. State agriculture officials put the loss to Florida’s citrus crop at $150 million.

       The storm also caused damage to Presbyterian property like never before.

       “This is unprecedented in terms of a natural disaster’s impact specifically on the Presbyterian family — churches and pastors and congregations,” said the Rev. Jim Kirk, aPresbyterian Disaster Assistance Team member from Naples, FL. “We had 11 pastors in the presbytery who were directly impacted in significant ways.”

       At First Presbyterian Church in Arcadia, where the steeple was damaged in the storm and a hole punched in a sanctuary window, Ufford-Chase toured a storeroom filled with donated relief supplies. There were such items as cereal, canned goods, milk, bottled water and diapers (an item in high-demand following the storm).

       With grocery stores closed following the hurricane, area residents flocked to First Church and other congregations for help. For those unable to leave their homes, members from First Church drove through Arcadia offering food, water and other supplies.

       Sandee Woods, a deacon at First Church of Arcadia, and her sister Tina Zolkos, started delivering food, water and other relief items immediately following the storm. In fact, the two sisters didn’t wait around for permission from the church’s session. There was no time for that; people needed help fast. The two stuffed as many items as possible into a church van and hit the road.

       “The first days when we would stop and open the doors, the people would come,” Woods said. “We would be in one spot for 25 minutes with numerous families,” handing them relief items. Ufford-Chase, touched by the sisters’ story of generosity in Charley’s aftermath, recounted it during other stops he made in southwest Florida.

       The effort by First Church of Arcadia mirrored the leadership role assumed by many local churches throughout the storm-riddled state.

       “God keeps sending us more obstacles to overcome, and we’re going to overcome those obstacles through the strength that we have in our faith,” said the Rev. Ted Land, pastor of First Church of Arcadia. “What’s been keeping this community going is the faith-based community. This church is just one small part of what’s been going on with all the other churches.”

     The moderator even drove the supply-packed church van himself through the mostly Mexican community, personally carrying life-sustaining goods to mobile home residents. He also talked with them in Spanish, learning about their plight across the U.S.–Mexico border, their faith, and their memories of the terrible storm.

       “This is a moderator who likes to get his hands dirty,” said the Rev. Robert Rea, Peace River Presbytery’s designated associate presbyter. “He has such a wonderful spirit.”

       Rea’s wife, Ardis, accompanied her husband and Ufford-Chase during the visit, which she predicted would provide a much-needed lift to storm-weary Presbyterians in the area.

       “I think it will have a positive impact because it’s different from when moderators normally come after a crisis,” Rea said. “They normally come in, kind of survey things, and go back out the same day. He’s coming to help work and to actually see the people. It will give our people a chance to connect with him and with the denomination.”

       During the meeting with pastors at First Church in Port Charlotte, where a blue tarp covered the roof, Ufford-Chase listened as pastors described their fears about what might be next, with Hurricane Frances, and how congregations could be better prepared for major disasters in the future.

       “It’s a huge blow to have to think about dealing with this potentially a second time,” said Mock, pastor at First Church in Punta Gorda. “We’re just starting to get a little normality back into the area. The thought of Frances sitting out there and possibly coming right over us is just almost too much to bear.”

       Ufford-Chase also learned more about the faith community’s response to Charley, as well as the presbytery’s relief effort. He was told that the response needed would be long-term.

       “The message I will take to the rest of the church is that there is hard work to be done in rebuilding both the physical and the emotional and the spiritual church and homes of people here,” Ufford-Chase said. “And that we need as a church to continue to take that seriously over the next couple of years. It’s not a one-week event. I’ve heard that message clearly, and it’s one of the things I came to learn.”