Ninth and Elm Church part of BC disaster team

The Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Team headquartered in Bridge City had some Orange connections after Hurricane Ike. In fact, the Ninth and Elm Church of Christ in Orange still has 300 applications for assistance that haven’t been processed, and supplies are limited.

 Ninth and Elm Minister Barry Jones said most new applicants are being referred to Bridge City, however, the church could use some volunteers and donors to expedite the applications already there.

Elderly applicants will be treated first, he said.

Interested donors may call the church at 883-4805. “If no one answers they can leave a message and we’ll get back to them quickly,” Jones said. “When [Hurricane Ike] happened, the Disaster Relief Team wanted to set up here,” Jones said. “But they could not get the electric drops set up.” So the Melbourne, Fla., group went to Bridge City, but Ninth and Elm members stayed active. Other Church of Christ congregations in Southeast Texas took part as well.

In the days following the storm, Ninth and Elm collected $120,000 in cash and $600,000 in bedding, furniture and cleaning supplies.

The owners of Long’s Warehouse provided housing space; and Gordon Worlow provided a distribution site through a parking lot he owns. Although Quincy Procell lost his automotive shop, Jones said, “ ... he worked hard to two days fixing a forklift so we could unload appliances.” Procell had insurance, but is still trying to get his money from damage sustained by Hurricane Rita.

Other relief items included food boxes and kitchen appliances. Jones said church members were grateful to the Orange police for their assistance when one of the church computers was stolen after a break-in; and to Neal Ford and the staff of the Orange County Drainage District, for providing a heavy duty fork lift.

“When we were unloading things, they brought in fork-lifts,” Jones said. “It would have taken us hours to unload all that. They were very instrumental in helping us.”

The Ninth and Elm didn’t get any flood water, however, some sewage was forced up through a pipe drain and flooded an auditorium. The church had the proper kind of insurance and will able to repair the damage.