Look around you to see how you can answer the call to serve others.
OTTER CREEK–When there’s not a lot you can do, you do what you can.
Category 4 Hurricane Helene lashed out with high winds and storm surge in Otter Creek, a small community located about 20 miles east of Cedar Key, leaving widespread damage and power outages in its wake.
Tim Campbell, pastor of Otter Creek Baptist Church, saw the need in the community where he and his wife, Dawn Michelle, live out their call to serve others.
With so many in the area without power, the church began offering free meals on Friday. His wife, Dawn Michelle, spearheaded the effort in the church kitchen.
“We had gas stoves, and we had power and we just started cooking. We saw the need and just jumped in. It’s a simple thing that you can do to love on people when you can’t do much else,” Campbell said.
Those seeking food could take their meals to go or enjoy a meal as they recuperated inside the air-conditioned fellowship center. Once water returned to the church, they also began offering showers to people.
Because everyone passes Otter Creek Baptist on their drive to Cedar Key, another community hit hard by Hurricane Helene, the church will once again serve as a drop-off point for supplies and transport them to where they need to go.
Not all members could make it to the church for Sunday’s worship service or to help with meals, but Campbell reminded them to help where they were.
“Look around you to see how you can answer the call to serve others. It may be shoveling mud out of someone’s house, or it may be passing out a bottle of cold water, or it may be a simple hug and encouraging one another.”
Photos by William Haun for the Florida Baptist Convention.