Madeira Beach church serving the community despite impacts from Hurricanes Helene, Milton
Madeira Beach church serves community after Helene
FOX 13’s Kailey Tracy reports on Madeira Beaches’ Church By the Sea’s thrift store, which remains open to serve its community despite still waiting for permits to rebuild after being flooded with four to five feet of water during Hurricane Helene.
MADIERA BEACH, Fla. - Remembering what she saw walking through the doors of Church By the Sea’s thrift store after Hurricane Helene brings Jeanne Bandelow to tears.
"It was just devastating and so sad to see our beautiful thrift store like that," Bandelow said. "We just we love our customers. We love our community, and to have to close our doors and clean everything out of there, it was heartbreaking," Bandelow said.
Helene’s impact
The backstory:
Four to five feet of water flooded not just the thrift shop but the Madeira Beach church’s 80-year-old sanctuary and other buildings, too.
Church by the Sea's sanctuary gutted from Hurricane Helene.
Something else that brought Bandelow, the thrift shop’s co-manager, to tears was what they salvaged from the storm.
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A picture of Jesus praying in a garden that was hanging on the wall of the thrift shop survived.
"That’s historical in this church," Bandelow said, looking at the picture. "It just made me cry. It’s just Jesus telling us, ‘I’m still here.’"
Reopening
It was a sign that they, too, would still be here for the community. They managed to reopen the thrift store in December.
They say, although the building is gutted and without electricity or water, they’ve managed to make it work by using flashlights and propped-open doors for light.
"Our thrift store is a presence on the beaches for the community, and that we had the opportunity to get in donations and start a distribution center was just a blessing for us," Bandelow said.
Photos of flooding
Community support
The donations from the congregation and the community, many of whom were also impacted by the storms, poured in.
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"Our congregation has risen to the occasion," Ryan Mock, the church’s secretary, said. "People want to serve. People want to give. People want to give their time and their talents to help us."
Sign outside Church by the Sea's distribution center and food pantry.
Mock finished, "So, we've just been so incredibly blessed, and that has given us hope. We have hope that we are going to rebuild, that we are going to continue to have a presence on the beach."
Bandelow said it’s not just physical donations.
"Sometimes people just need a hug or just need somebody to listen to them," Bandelow said. "These are our friends, and these are people that we know. We serve every week, and to see them go through such a loss it broke our hearts."
What's next:
Some of the thrift store volunteers and their families were also impacted by the hurricanes.
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Mock said they’re optimistic but have a long road to rebuilding the campus.
Bandelow with a fellow worker inside Church by the Sea's thrift store.
They’re waiting for permits to rebuild but are able to hold services on Sundays at 9 and 10:30 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall.
The thrift store is open Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
They accept donations of clothes, household goods, toiletries, smaller furniture, and food for their food pantry on those days, too.
The Source: FOX 13's Kailey Tracy collected the information in this story.
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