RACE, RELIGION + SOCIAL JUSTICE
Missionaries helping with Hurricane Helene relief efforts
Oct 2, 2024, 9:57 AM | Updated: 10:36 am
Jonah Wark, right, kisses his wife Sara Martin outside their flood-damaged home on the Pigeon River in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Newport, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/George Walker IV)
PENSACOLA, FL — Some missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints moved after Hurricane Helene. Now they are working on cleanup efforts.
“Missionaries are very resilient,” Geneva Sanchez-Morales said. “They’re young and they come prepared.”
Sanchez-Morales is the Stake Relief Society President for the Pensacola, Florida Stake. That’s where they take care of the evacuated missionaries.
“We opened up two of our buildings, one for the sister missionaries and the other for the elders,” she said. “They came with bedding, they came with clothes. So, we really just provided some shelter and some meals for them.”
Sanchez-Morales said their community didn’t take a direct hit from the storm. This weekend, six to seven hundred members from their Church Stake and five others will head to Tallahassee to help with Hurricane Helene cleanup efforts.
“That comes through just being organized and having wonderful leadership and direction,” Sanchez-Morales said. “[And] working with state leaders and county officials and leader so we can go in and be helpful … truly helpful to those who are in need the most.”
Sanchez-Morales said they’ll be taking all their own food and water and camping gear, so they won’t be pulling on the resources of those they’re helping.
Don Brinkerhoff is a reporter and producer for KSL NewsRadio.
Bonneville International Corporation, the company that owns KSL NewsRadio, is a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
