Separate efforts locally will benefit hurricane victims

Bro. Bobby Grant is no stranger to “helping thy neighbor.” In fact, Grant has been a part of many relief efforts to various parts of the country and believes this type of work is within his calling as a pastor.

Grant is the pastor at Highway Church of the Nazarene and last week, he said he felt a calling that he needed to do something to help the families of Texas and Florida who have been hurt by the recent Hurricane Harvey and Irma a few weeks ago.

Reports from CNN say most of downtown Houston is dry and “life is starting to return to normal,” however, the threat still isn’t over and those living in surrounding cities are still suffering from the storm.

Harvey was categorized as a category four hurricane and left more than 70 people dead and ravaged more than 300 miles of Texas coast. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety’s situation report, more than 21,000 people still remain in shelters.

The storm caused more than $75 billion in damages, making it one of the most expensive natural disasters on record.

“If we could raise the money and then get the products at a discount that would be great,” Grant said.

Grant’s plan is to raise $10,000 and take that money and buy food and other products and have it driven to Texas and Florida to help those in need.

Raising the money and then buying the products in the county is a way of doing two good deeds at once. Grant said he is taking the money raised in the county and spending it in the county so that puts money back in to the pockets of those who live in Clinton County.

“We can go home and sleep in our warm bed and eat our warm food with a shelter over us,” Grant said. “I saw one lady on TV the other day who said it would be more than a year before she could get back into her house. She’s lost everything except what she had on her back and what she had in a bag.”

Bro. Grant said when the tornado came through Clinton County in 1974, people and supplies came and helped people in the county.

“We were the first to get HUD relief and all kinds of things for let’s say 250 families to get back to normal,” Grant said. “I stayed a month at the high school. Nine people lost their lives and 200 something homes and businesses were lost. There were people who came from everywhere to help. It was a lot of little things that people did. I don’t want to be so in-grained that I can’t step across my borders and help someone else.”

Grant said he knows Texas or Florida isn’t close to Kentucky, but they are still apart of this country.

“God said to help our neighbor,” Grant said. “I’ve never asked Clinton County to help and they not come through. We are not a rich county, but we are a giving county. I don’t think $10,000 is too much to ask. If everybody in this county would give a dollar we would have it. I would like to see us raise that much money.”

Bro. Grant is also asking all the churches in the county to take up a special offering for those in Texas and Florida.

“It’s hard for me to sit idly by and last night I was a little bit discouraged,” Grant said. “I told Lela (Grant) that it really bothers me when people don’t want to help other people and they call themselves Christians. We have a lot of good people in this county who are willing to sacrifice their money and time. That makes me proud to know we have that kind of people here.”

Doing this type of ministry has always been apart of Grant’s ministry.

Grant said he not only wants to buy food for the people in Texas and Florida, but other supplies as well.

“Aspirin, Tylenol, medical supplies, band-aids … stuff that people need. Sometimes people don’t think of those things we use everyday,” Grant said. “I’m going to talk to the judge and I think I can get the gas to Texas donated. Todd Anderson took that last load for me. I followed him down there and he didn’t charge us to take it.”

Grant put together a truck load of supplies and transported it to Alabama when the tornadoes ripped apart the southern states several years ago.

“They were thrilled with all that stuff we took them,” Grant said. “I don’t ever want to forget what happened to us and if something like that ever happened again I’m sure people will step up and do something.”

Bro. Grant is calling this effort the Texas/Florida Relief Fund and hopes everything will come together, so those people can get back on their feet.

If people want to donate to the fund, banking accounts have been set up at Monticello Banking Company, First & Farmers National Bank and People’s Bank of Albany.

For more information, contact Bro. Grant at Highway Church of the Nazarene.