2005 - 09-02-05

The original Witness staging area was set up
by the relief committee at the Fort
Lauderdale Assembly Hall, which is some 40
miles north of the main disaster zone around
Homestead. To relieve some of the pressure,
a primary staging area was established at
the Plant City Assembly Hall near Orlando,
about 250 miles northwest of the disaster
zone. Most relief materials were channeled
there for sorting and packing. The committee
ordered its needs from Plant City on a daily
basis, and huge tractor-trailers were used
to cover the five-hour drive down to Fort
Lauderdale.

In turn this staging station supplied food,
materials, water, generators, and other
needs to three Kingdom Halls that had been
repaired in the center of the disaster area.
There, capable Witnesses organized building
and clean-up crews to visit the hundreds of
homes that needed attention. Kitchens and
feeding lines were also opened on the
Kingdom Hall grounds, and anybody
was welcome to come for aid.
Even some of the soldiers enjoyed a meal and
were later observed dropping donations into
the contribution boxes.

For many of the homeless, alternative
accommodations were found in the homes of
Witnesses untouched by Andrew. Others stayed
in trailers lent or donated for that
purpose. After Hurricane Andrew, the
superbly-organized relief program of the
Witnesses was so well-known that some
business establishments and individuals who
were not Witnesses and who wanted to make
significant donations of relief supplies
turned these over to the Witnesses.

According to the article, these folks knew
that their gift would not be simply left in
a stockpile, nor would it be used for
profit, but it would truly benefit the
hurricane victims, both Witnesses and
non-Witnesses.

In the research I have done, the disaster
relief efforts organized by Jehovah's
Witnesses are too many to mention.
Again, their honesty, use of donated funds
and organizational abilities are
unsurpassed.