Food pantry lending a hand after storm damage - WCJB

Food pantry lending a hand after storm damage - WCJB

STEINHATCHEE, Fla. -- Coastal cities in North Florida are still cleaning up Hermine's mess, Steinhatchee is one of them.

 

People with the Sowers of the Seed Food Pantry are giving away food for flood victims, while repairing their own damage.

 

"Everything in the walk-in refrigerator, it was a total loss," said Cherri Campbell, Director of the food pantry.

     

The Sowers of the Seed Food Pantry was damaged by water but volunteers are still working for Steinhatchee, feeding 150 families affected by Hurricane Hermine.

    

Campbell said, "They went ahead and cut out so they could get all the wet insulation, now we're in the process of just letting it dry out at the moment."

 

"I told the Lord okay you know what we need, we need cleaning supplies, and Salvation Army just drove up with 167 buckets of cleaning supplies for us to distribute," she said.

     

After Hurricane Hermine, over 4,000 lbs of food were washed away by storm surge.

    

"The doors broke loose and it was like a dam that was open and it swished through here and broke through these doors and there was canned goods all the way out to the road," said Campbell.

 

Members of the church community helped clean up.

     

The pantry was started Fellowship Baptist Church in May.

     

Steve Kroll, a church member, said, "You wonder about these things and your heart breaks for people that lost everything and all the work that we did here, it hurt."

 

"The storm is even bringing people together, it's been awesome," said Kroll.

 

Food and supplies are still available for flood victims at the Fellowship Baptist Church just down the road.

 

"We thought we'd be able to save some stuff but there's nothing to be saved. no tvs, no beds, no furniture, all my mom and dad's pictures, everything," BJ Sexton, whose parents were victims of the hurricane.

Sexton is traveling back and forth from Ocala to Steinhatchee to help her parents. 

    

"My mom is 80 and my dad is 86. They had to rebuild in 93 when they lost everything and now they've lost everything again. The house is going to have to be torn down. They don't even have clothes, my husband and I took them and got them clothes yesterday," said Sexton.

     

The pantry is giving away food and supplies twice a day for the remainder of the week, between 8-10 am, and 5-7 pm.

 

To donate, click here.