MORRISTOWN,N.J.—Having already cleaned and gutted almost 200 homes in three tristate area regions over the last two weeks, Liquid Church of New Jersey is now directing its more than 1,300 volunteers to Staten Island, N.Y., during the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend. Hundreds more damaged homes will be gutted, and tons of critical need supplies, water and meals will be distributed this Thanksgiving weekend.
Superstorm Sandy impacted almost 15 percent of the U.S.population, but was particularly catastrophic for Staten Island, where New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently estimated losses at $33 billion for the state. Tim Lucas, lead pastor at Liquid Church, said: “After serving on the ground the past two weeks, we realize the people of Staten Island are still in shock and recovery mode. The physical needs are acuter than originally thought.”
This past weekend, 220 volunteers from Liquid Church worked alongside relief teams from We Care, the National Guard, the American Red Cross, New York Police Department and New York Fire Department. Volunteers also participated in emergency assessment training at Federal Emergency Management Agency facilities by the relief site. Church leaders are now mobilizing hundreds more Sandy Thanksgiving volunteers each day this coming holiday weekend, including Thanksgiving Day on Staten Island.
Relief supplies collected by the New Jersey-based Christian church, will be distributed to families as volunteer teams clean out houses devastated by the storm. Hot meals will also be supplied for relief workers and members of the community. Recent inventory of contributions collected by Liquid Church include:
965 gallons of water
1,255 cans of meat
2,052 packs, tubes, etc., of baby food
343 jars of peanut butter
1,900 pairs of socks
3,400 cans, boxes, jars of additional items
Contributions from churches and organizations outside of New Jersey are still needed to help underwrite the large-scale relief operations being conducted. Details are available at SandyThanksgiving.com. Church leaders can download multimedia materials such as video clips, bulletin inserts, slide graphics and music to help conduct special offerings during Nov. 25 services. The coalition presently includes 22 churches and organizations nationwide from states including Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas. They are providing financial and media support.
Liquid Church is one of New Jersey’s fastest-growing Christian churches. Founded in 2001 by Lucas, the church’s vision is to “take church to the people” with campuses in Morristown, New Brunswick, and Nutley. Nearly 2,500 people experience Liquid’s worship services each weekend in New Jersey and around the globe through Church Online. As a part of its global outreach Liquid provides clean drinking water to the poorest of the poor with dozens of completed projects in Ethiopia, Central African Republic, Haiti and El Salvador.
