JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – A Jacksonville Beach neighborhood came together Wednesday night to show support for the people living in 100 homes that were badly damaged by Hurricane Matthew.
The Sanctuary is a small community in south Jacksonville Beach. During Hurricane Matthew, about 100 homes were flooded by waters from the Intracoastal Waterway. Many of those homes are now being gutted, and families are forced to live elsewhere.
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The neighborhood is very close-knit. That's why Wednesday night, they came together for a block party of sorts.
"You are welcome and I want you to know that," one woman told her neighbors. "We are available for what you need."
"We were one of the fortunate people in the neighborhood who did not experience much damage, so we just opened up our house and really happy to have everybody here," Erin Lambremont said.
The community gathered at the Lambremont's driveway, to relax and have a bite to eat.
They gathered in a circle to pray. "Thank you for blessing all of us. Help us through this time. Help us to know there is a light at the end of this tunnel," one man prayed. "We are tighter now than we were yesterday. We will be tighter tomorrow than we are today."
Lambremont said neighbors who were unaffected by the storm are doing what they can to help their friends get by.
"You just feel a little bit bad that you're not in the same boat as them, so we want to do anything we can whether it's doing laundry or bringing a meal,” Lambremont said.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help Sanctuary residents make repairs to their homes that sustained massive damage in the storm.