As Florida residents begin the arduous and heartbreaking task of recovery from Hurricane Ian, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, representing eight Baptist state conventions, has established nine feeding and ten clean-up sites in six Florida counties.
Close to 100 people are confirmed dead from the hurricane’s impact. Thousands of homes, churches and businesses are destroyed, with thousands more sustaining severe damage. Because of massive flooding and destroyed bridges, some communities can still only be reached by boat.
Even with the catastrophic damage from Hurricane Ian still being assessed, recovery has begun.
In Lee County, the hardest hit county in Florida, hurricane victims can receive assistance from DR volunteers at one of four Florida Baptist churches. In Sarasota County, DR has set up ministry sites at two Florida Baptist churches. The DR ministry base of operations is located in one Florida Baptist church each in Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto and Hardee counties.
With Florida Baptist Disaster Relief coordinator David Coggins taking a lead role in assessing needs and determining assignments, the seven state convention DR teams coming alongside FLDR in ministry and witness are: Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, Kentucky Baptist Convention, Louisiana Baptist Convention, Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, Missouri Baptist Convention and Mississippi Baptist Convention.
Also, FLDR leaders are cooperating with Southern Baptists’ Send Relief, American Red Cross and The Salvation Army in relief efforts.
Additional state conventions will likely send DR teams to assist in ministry efforts as recovery may take years.
Locations and contact information for current SBDR feeding and cleanup sites are:
| Church Location | Feeding Site | Cleanup and Recovery Site |
| Lee County: | ||
| McGregor Baptist Church, Fort Myers 3750 Colonial Blvd, Fort Myers, FL 33966 Led by Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (with The Salvation Army) PUBLIC ASSISTANCE NUMBER: 855-728-2374 |
X | X |
| New Hope Baptist, Cape Coral 431 Nicholas Pkwy E, Cape Coral, FL 33990 Led by Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (with American Red Cross) PUBLIC ASSISTANCE NUMBER 239-318-0681 h.ianflorida22@ncmissions.org |
X | X |
| Riverside Baptist Church, Fort Myers 8660 Daniels Parkway, Fort Myers, FL 33912 Led by Southern Baptists of Texas Convention PUBLIC ASSISTANCE NUMBER: 855-728-2374 |
X | X |
| Crossroads Baptist Church, Fort Myers 10721 Palm Beach Blvd, Fort Myers, FL 33905 Led by Mississippi Baptist Convention PUBLIC ASSISTANCE NUMBER: 601-259-4485 |
X | X |
| Charlotte County: | ||
| Murdock Baptist Church, Port Charlotte 18375 Cochran Blvd, Port Charlotte, FL 33948 Led by Florida Baptist Convention (with The Salvation Army) PUBLIC ASSISTANCE NUMBER: 904-253-0502 fldrresponse@gmail.com |
X | X |
| Sarasota County: | ||
| First Baptist Church Venice (servicing southern Sarasota County, Englewood and North Port) 312 Miami Ave W., Venice, FL 34285 Led by Missouri Baptist Convention PUBLIC ASSISTANCE CONTACT: Ian.modroperations@mobaptist.org (Phone to follow soon) |
X | X |
| Collier County: | ||
| First Baptist Church Naples 3000 Orange Blossom Dr, Naples, FL 34109 Led by Louisiana Baptist Convention (with American Red Cross) PUBLIC ASSISTANCE NUMBER: 318-955-8207 |
X | X |
| Desoto County: | ||
| Calvary Baptist Church Arcadia 48 N Fifteenth Ave, Arcadia, FL 34266 Led by Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (with American Red Cross) PUBLIC ASSISTANCE NUMBER: 334-613-2389 |
X | X |
| First Baptist Church Arcadia 1006 N Brevard Ave, Arcadia, FL 34266 PUBLIC ASSISTANCE NUMBER: 863-494-3622 |
X | |
| Hardee County: | ||
| First Baptist Church 1570 W Main St, Wauchula, FL 33873 Led by Kentucky Baptist Convention (with American Red Cross) |
X | X |
For updates on FLDR response go to facebook.com/FLBaptistDR and flbaptist.org/dr-current-response. To give financially in support of these relief efforts go to https://flbaptist.org/dr-give/. Donations of items are not needed at this time.