“In Case Their Roof Goes”: A Westmoreland Church Lost Its Own Buildings to Melissa and Still Sheltered Its Neighbours

• Baulk Wesleyan Holiness Church in Westmoreland sheltered up to 20 people after Hurricane Melissa
• The storm destroyed the church’s rear section, bathrooms and a separate house on its property
• Many residents lost their roofs or whole wooden homes
• About 700 people received meals, tarpaulins and care packages at the church

When Hurricane Melissa tore through Baulk Heights, Westmoreland, in October 2025, many families lost their roofs, and those in wooden houses often lost everything. Many of them turned to Baulk Wesleyan Holiness Church. The Jamaica Observer reported in November that the church had sheltered up to 20 people at the height of the crisis.

“The community knows that in case their roof goes, or they are flooded out, that they can shelter in the church,” said Reverend Jerome Chisholm. The last person staying there left only after finding shelter with family.

The church was badly damaged too. Melissa destroyed its rear section and bathroom facilities, damaged several doors and windows, and flattened a separate house on the church property. Services continued anyway. “We have not closed our doors because we have to keep them open to encourage the community,” Chisholm said.

The church also became a relief hub. Gospel artist Jermaine Edwards led a distribution with radio personality Wesley “Burgerman” Burger, the Jamaica Observer Media Group and SLP Xpress Limited. About 700 people from Baulk Heights and nearby Burnt Savanna received warm meals, water, clothing, tarpaulins, medical help and care packages. Edwards said many people stayed at the church after collecting their packages “because there was nothing else to go home to — no roof.” He added: “We know no matter how much billions you have you really just can’t fix everybody problem…We just have to do likkle by likkle.”

The story shows the church building as housing of last resort. In many rural districts, the church is the strongest structure in the community and the place people run to when their own homes fail. That puts real value on how church buildings are built, roofed and insured, and on whether a church’s own staff house survives a storm. For diaspora congregations twinned with home churches, paying to make those buildings hurricane-resistant helps the whole community, not only Sunday worship. The families who left Baulk’s pews still needed roofs of their own.

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