Flooded churches receive flood-recovery funds

Pastor Roberto Reyes (right) and leaders of Iglesia Bautista Avondale in Harlingen, Texas, expressed thanks for disaster-recovery funds provided by CBF. The money is helping the church acquire supplies to repair its facilities, damaged in a summer flood.

Pastor Oscar Quintana of Iglesia Bautista Emanuel in Harlingen, Texas, holds a check for $5,000 provided by CBF Global to help the church repair its building, which was damaged in a flood this summer. Emanuel and three other churches, all without flood insurance, need help with purchasing supplies and repairing their facilities.

Do you remember when we told you about the churches in Harlingen, Texas, which sustained damage when a 15-inch rain deluged the city in four hours—and then when other congregations showed up to help them? 

In the past few days, a couple of those churches have felt tangible love from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Jorge Zapata, associate coordinator of CBF Texas, delivered checks for $5,000 each to the worst-damaged congregations—Iglesia Bautista Avondale and Iglesia Bautista Emanuel.

CBF Global’s domestic disaster response unit released the funds to help the Harlingen churches purchase building supplies and continue restoring their buildings to pre-flood status. Previously, CBF Texas provided $1,000 in immediate relief.

The damaged churches are in the dry but not out of the woods. The cost of materials needed to repair all four churches is $26,000, Zapata said. Fellowship Southwest would like to raise the full amount, so that the emergency-response funds from CBF Global and CBF Texas can be restored, too. 

Also, those totals don’t cover labor costs. Fellowship Southwest is recruiting volunteer teams to help the churches with repairs.
 

To contribute to the Fellowship Southwest Disaster Response Fund, click here.

To volunteer to help rebuild the churches, contact Jorge Zapata or Marv Knox.