Jacksonville churches helping families recover from Irma

Food, clothes, supplies given away to residents impacted by hurricane

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Several Jacksonville-area organizations and community members are stepping up to help those affected by Hurricane Irma. 

St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church and Transforming Communities CDC hosted a Disaster Relief Supply Giveaway from noon to 7 p.m. Friday at 3738 Winton Dr. in Northwest Jacksonville.

They were giving out free food, clothes, toiletries and water. 

The Fraternal Order of Police also chipped in, providing hot meals for families who will have a long recovery from Irma.

The Evangel Temple Church parking lot also became a distribution center this week, as the church partnered with Convoy of Hope to give away truckloads of food, drinks and other necessities to families in need on the Westside.

“I got here at 7:30 or so, and they were already lined up, so with just a couple of volunteers we had already, we just started handing out supplies to those in line,” said Evangel Temple Chaplain Pat Archuleta.

The volunteers were helping neighbors like Lois Boyd, who's been without power for days now.

"It is a blessing, because we lost a lot of our food. We had to throw (it) away because we didn't have power,” Boyd said.

The giveaway helped hundreds of families going through a difficult time after Irma. Volunteers said helping their community is what they're called to do.

“I think that we are all servants, so we want to do that servant-hood to our community,” Archuleta said.

The churches and other organizations are working to coordinate more giveaway events in areas throughout Northeast Florida.