- Palm Springs SDA Church in Florida and Restore a Child sent teams back to Jamaica
- Pastor Omar Palmer presented a cheque to help rebuild a destroyed Adventist church
- About 90 per cent of nearly 500 children at an event were homeless, orphaned or poorly housed
- Teams completed 65 projects, including a school fix-up in Darliston
A Florida congregation has put money towards rebuilding a church that Hurricane Melissa wiped out in western Jamaica. Restore a Child, a Christian organisation working with Palm Springs Seventh-day Adventist Church in West Palm Beach, reported that its teams have made several follow-up mission trips since the storm.
One aim was to “rebuild an Adventist Church that was completely destroyed by the hurricaine” in the West Jamaica Conference. Pastor Omar Palmer, senior pastor of the Palm Springs church, presented a cheque from Restore a Child to the president of the conference “to continue building the destroyed church”, the organisation said.
The need among families was stark. At a large community fun day, the teams served nearly 500 children, “90% of whom are homeless, orphaned or live in unacceptable dwellings”. In one case, “The team met with a mother who lost everything and had her child sleeping underneath a coconut tree.” Rather than a one-off handout, the group said it would help her with “a significant self supporting venture to provide sustainable support”, which it described as ongoing.
The volunteers completed 65 projects, including painting a police station and work at Northern Caribbean University. They also provided a treat and a “fixer upper” of Darliston Preparatory School in Westmoreland, which was still without electricity after the hurricane.
Diaspora churches are among the most reliable sources of rebuilding money after a disaster, and this report shows both sides of that help: a cheque for a church building, and a promise of long-term support for a family with no safe roof. With so many children still in unsafe housing nearly a year on, the question for partner congregations abroad is how to balance restoring sanctuaries with helping members and neighbours get back into secure homes.
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