An Inside Look at One Church's Response

Pastor Kevin Brintnall was alarmed when he heard the news that "Charley" had developed into a major hurricane and was threatening the Florida peninsula.

Brintnall, who pastors Audubon Park Covenant Church, and his wife, Karen, had left Orlando for a two-week vacation in Oregon that included a wedding and family reunion. "When we left on August 10, Charley was a named storm, but was moving westward in the southeast Caribbean. Like many storms in the past 12 years in Florida, we had watched with interest, but were not overly concerned."

Charley, growing in intensity, made a sudden right turn as it moved into the Gulf of Mexico. Weather forecasters were caught off guard as Charley turned sharply toward the Northeast to slam the category 4 hurricane into the West Coast of Florida. Punta Gorda became a household name as this low lying coastal community took the full brunt of the storm. Tracking Northeast at 25-28 miles per hour, the storm's eye crossed directly over Orlando before exiting the state near Daytona.

Brintnall recalls the helplessness of that Friday night, August 13, and the early hours of the next morning. "I felt a mix of relief and guilt that I was not there with the congregation to face this storm with them," he recalls. Winds as high as 106 miles per hour were recorded at the Executive Airport, just a mile away from the Audubon Park Covenant Church of Orlando. For a harrowing 90 minutes the strongest winds of the storm lashed the neighborhood, bringing down Laurel oaks and live oak trees that had been planted when the neighborhood was built . . . after Hurricane Donna plowed through the same area in 1960. "The amount of tree damage was incredible. Huge oak trees, many three or four feet in diameter, were twisted and broken by suspected tornadoes that were embedded in the eye wall of the hurricane. Other trees fell due to the straight winds. Power lines were down and virtually all of the Orlando area lost power."

Brintnall need not have worried about his congregation, however. With first light they sprang into action. Several gathered at the church around 8:00 a.m. the morning of the 14th and began the task of clearing the driveway and parking lot of fallen branches so that other vehicles could gain entrance. A gas-powered generator was brought out of storage to provide electricity for the anticipated need for ice and refrigeration. Others began to check on neighbors and help others who began to emerge from their homes to assess the damage. The church quickly became the meeting place for those seeking help and those offering it. Neighborhood block captains and CERT-trained neighbors also came to the church to offer help.

"There is a strong history of neighborhood action coupled with the church as the meeting place," explains Brintnall. "In the late 1990's several courses were offered by the Orlando Fire Department to train people to respond to emergencies. The Northridge earthquake taught fire and police authorities that a wide-scale emergency quickly overwhelms emergency services. People step up to help in emergencies but are sometimes injured and even killed while trying to help. Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training was designed to help people know how to respond and how to help one another. The church co-hosted the training courses and even stored emergency equipment in a large storage closet. Chain saws, power generators, first aid supplies, rescue gear, lights, fans and radios are among the supplies stored at the church for emergencies."

In addition to the CERT training, the church also co-hosts several events each year that include the National Night Out of Neighborhood Watch, quarterly block captain meetings and a Hurricane Awareness night that is held close to June 1, the start of "hurricane season" in Florida. In the past, emergency meetings have been called as storms threatened the state. The last emergency meeting had been held just prior to the approach of Hurricane Floyd in September of 1999. In that case, Floyd turned north and missed Florida. Hurricane Charley's sudden turn to the Northeast caught almost everyone off-guard, Brintnall notes. "Residents had as few as four hours notice to get ready."

In the days that followed Charley, the church continued to serve as the center of the neighborhood's recovery efforts. Leaders in the church organized ice pickups from distribution points in the city and passed along information from city leaders to the neighborhood. At one point, the mayor of the city along with the local city commissioner visited the church to see how the neighborhood was coping. Mayor Buddy Dyer commented that "Audubon Park is the best organized neighborhood in the city." Since most residences did not have their power restored until seven or eight days after the storm, the church became a place of refuge. Kathy Montoya, chair of the congregation, observed that "even though we had no electricity, we still met that Sunday morning after the storm and had a time of praise and sharing. Amazingly the power to the church was restored Sunday evening. During the next several days people came to the church to get a break from the heat and humidity since our air conditioner in the fellowship hall worked great."

Later in the first week following the storm, the kitchen at the church became a place where people could come by for a cup of coffee and the latest news on the small television that someone brought to the church. Barbara David, a council member of the congregation, cooked several hot meals for families without power and Vivian Grew, a member of the congregation, cooked several breakfasts during those difficult post-storm days. On the first Thursday evening after the storm, enough donations were gathered from thankful neighbors that the leaders of the church decided to throw a party and invite the neighborhood. More than 70 people showed up for this impromptu cookout. "The role of the church in the neighborhood during this time has created great good will and we hope to see some of our neighbors join us on a Sunday morning real soon," Montoya added.

Large piles of debris still litter the neighborhood and almost every home still has a large pile of branches in the front yard. The church sustained damage to its roof, but the extent of the damage will not be known until a roofing contractor can be scheduled to examine the barrel tile roof. "Contractors are in great demand around Orlando these days," explained Brintnall. "We hope to make repairs before the next hurricane comes our way." Hurricane season officially ends November 30.

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