From Brooklyn and Queens to Santa Cruz: A New York Pastor Organises Melissa Relief for His Home Parish

• Pastor Sheldon Evans of Evangelism Family Life Ministries is coordinating hurricane relief from New York
• The ministry has branches in Brinkley, St Elizabeth, and Spanish Town
• More than 20 volunteers in St Elizabeth are distributing food and water
• Evans says many residents are struggling to find shelter after homes were destroyed

A New York-based pastor with roots in St Elizabeth is using his ministry’s network to send help to his home parish, where Hurricane Melissa turned farmland to rubble, the Jamaica Observer reported.

Sheldon Evans leads Evangelism Family Life Ministries (EFLM), which has its headquarters in Brooklyn and Queens and branches in Brinkley, St Elizabeth, and Spanish Town, St Catherine. He and a team in New York are coordinating a relief drive with colleagues in St Elizabeth, which bore much of the Category 5 storm’s force when it made landfall on October 28.

“The mood on the ground in St Elizabeth after Hurricane Melissa is dire. Many residents are struggling to find shelter, food, and basic necessities,” Evans said, describing destroyed homes and damaged roads. More than 20 volunteers led by Pastor Heather White Davis are running the St Elizabeth side of the effort, with mostly non-perishable food and water being shipped. Caribbean Pastors United, a US-based group of Caribbean ministers, and the radio stations Irie Jam Radio, Caribbean Power Jam Radio and Favor FM have provided most of the support.

Evans was born in Santa Cruz, one of the hardest-hit areas, and his parents come from Malvern and Nain. “Hurricane Melissa’s impact is felt deeply in St Elizabeth, where many families are struggling to recover,” he said, stressing his commitment to the parish’s rebuilding. The storm’s 185-mile-per-hour winds also damaged homes, hospitals and roads in Westmoreland, St James, St Ann, Trelawny, Manchester and Clarendon, and the Ministry of Information had confirmed 32 deaths.

Food and water are the first need, but the longer job is housing. Diaspora churches like EFLM, with members in New York and branches in the affected parish, are well placed to follow relief with rebuilding: sending roofing materials, paying local builders and checking that repairs are done properly. For families abroad with homes or land in St Elizabeth, working through a trusted church branch on the ground can be a practical way to fund repairs and see how the money is spent. Stronger roofs and better fastening, rather than simple replacement, will decide how well those homes stand up to the next storm.

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