The following is excerpted from the Church Newsroom. To read the full article, CLICK HERE. 

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spent Saturday morning, October 1, volunteering in areas that were the most severely impacted by Hurricane Ian.
Their cleanup efforts — challenged by flooded streets, power outages, unreliable cell phone service and other obstacles — are just the beginning of what is expected to be several weeks worth of response efforts.

While high winds can create major damage in hurricanes, this particular storm also had excessive storm surge and rain — causing rivers, canals and lakes to swell, which damaged roadways, bridges, buildings and property.

Sections of Interstate 75 in Florida were under water on Saturday, meaning some Church members had to travel farther out of their way to go south to the areas in most need of help and cleanup.

“Our hearts go out to those who have lost so much, in some cases literally everything, as a result of Hurricane Ian,” said Elder Victor P. Patrick, Area Seventy. “Our service feels like a small sacrifice compared to what our neighbors have suffered.”

Members of the Naples Florida Stake gathered early Saturday morning before general conference to work in Fort Meyers, which was one of the hardest-hit areas. They filled work assignments at homes and delivered water bottles and hygiene kits.

The stake’s assistant communication director, Natalie Rodriguez, made one of those donations to Lutheran Services Florida — Comprehensive Refugee Services.

“The neighboring Lutheran church were in desperate need of water and hygiene kits. We were able to gladly accommodate their request,” Rodriguez said.

To read the full article, CLICK HERE.