Special offering will raise funds for hardest-hit areas of New York

Seventh-day Adventist world church President Ted N. C. Wilson this week offered a message of condolence to residents of the United States East Coast in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

“Please accept our sympathy and sadness for the devastation that has taken place, especially in New Jersey and the metropolitan New York area,” Wilson said. “We will continue to pray for members, churches, church organizations and the wider community that has been struck by tragedy.”

Hurricane Sandy was the largest storm by area to hit the U.S. in generations, resulting in widespread flooding, power outages and property damage. The so-called “superstorm” -- a hurricane-winter storm hybrid -- crippled the subway system in New York City and prompted the New York Stock Exchange to close for two consecutive days because of weather for the first time in more than a century.

The death toll from Sandy rose to at least 82 across eight states today, with the largest number of fatalities reported in New York, according to Reuters. New York Harbor sustained a record 14-foot storm surge during the hurricane.

Residents of the affected areas, among them Adventists, are reeling in the aftermath. It is estimated that at least 42 Adventist churches, with congregations totaling 4,500 members, are located in the most affected areas, a press release from the church’s North American Division Communication department said. Only eight of the church’s pastors had been contacted at the time of release.

Don King, president of the church’s Atlantic Union Conference, said at least three New York City-area congregations were hit hard by the storm. Among those sustaining damage, King said, are the Macedonia Seventh-day Adventist Church in Wyandanch on Long Island, and the Solid Rock Seventh-day Adventist Church in the New York City borough of Queens.

“The pews were floating,” King said of the Solid Rock church, where flood waters encroached from the Atlantic Ocean and Rockaway Beach, about a quarter of a mile away from the church.

Extensive power outages continue to complicate communication to church offices in the region, especially on Long Island, where the church’s Greater New York Conference is headquartered on the North Shore.

So far, five Adventist churches have reported that families in their congregations were affected by Sandy. Two Adventist churches in the Bronx are currently serving as shelters.

The Greater New York Conference’s Adventist Community Services (ACS) is planning to raise $100,000 for 100 Adventist families in the region that have experienced total or partial flooding damage, the press release said. Already, conference representatives have visited some of the 20 families whose homes were flooded.

“We are working with [conference] administration to collect a special offering for the following two Sabbaths in all the Greater New York Conference churches,” said Reuben Merino, ACS director for the conference.

Adventists in hard-hit New Jersey are also planning relief efforts. The New Jersey Conference’s ACS is “ready to help out wherever necessary,” said Claudia Ramirez, ACS disaster response coordinator for the region. The agency is currently collecting personal care kits, clothing and canned food items to distribute.

“It’s important for our church to be there to help people who have been affected by widespread devastation,” said Dan Jackson, president of the church’s North American Division. “We could be the Jesus that some of these people will only see and experience through these acts of kindness.”

World church headquarters, near Washington, D.C. closed for two days this week while the region weathered Sandy. Wilson was on one of the last flights to Moscow before area airports were put on lockdown. Now in the church’s Euro-Asia Division for Year-End Meetings there, Wilson expressed solidarity with those involved in rescue and cleanup.

“We are praying for you and your colleagues as you assist our church members in this difficult situation,” he said. “May God guide and encourage you and our members as you witness for Him during the challenging aftermath of the hurricane.”

Before slamming the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region, Sandy ravaged the Caribbean, killing more than 70 people and destroying homes and businesses. Much of the region remains without electricity and some roads are still impassable, due to downed trees and utility poles.

Adventists in northeast Jamaica reported that up to 75 percent of Adventist Church property in the island nation incurred damage, leading the Boston Adventist Church in Portland Parish to hold Sabbath worship services under a Gynep tree.

Despite setbacks in northeast Jamaica, church members there are leading a humanitarian relief effort.

“Though we have been hit hard, the church is organizing assistance to persons in need of food, clothing and repairs to roofs through the community services department, service groups and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Jamaica,” said Damion Clarke, who pastors the Boston Adventist Church. [Editors: ANN staff, with reporting by George Johnson and Nigel Coke]