CAROLINA BEACH, N.C. — It’s been a long and trying week for folks in Carolina Beach.

What You Need To Know

  • The Lifepoint Church is offering storm relief to the affected areas in Carolina Beach

  • Serve team members said Hurricane Florence was a great teacher for how serving a community can empower them

  • Janie Peters said it feels good to give back when the island community has given so much to her

People there are still reeling from Monday’s rainfall that brought historic flooding. The extent of the damage is still being tallied. 

Meanwhile, it’s not hard to find the helpers in the community. 

The Lifepoint Church is offering light at such a dark time.

Amid lives being flipped upside down, the Lifepoint Church serve team members said Hurricane Florence taught them the power of community, and so far more than 300 people continue serving across the community with teams deploying in rotations every two hours.

Lead Pastor Jeff Kapusta is proud to call them his flock.

“One of the big passions of our church is to be a service to the community. And so we have outreach teams at every campus. As soon as this storm hit, our outreach teams mobilized,” Kapusta said.

Golf carts, stewardship and Janie Peters are a critical trio for Carolina Beach.

Peters is the sunshine the community needs going to homes impacted by the storm on behalf of the church.

The ruined furniture and other household items carried to the streets of Atlanta and Fayetteville avenues are the handy work of a service team.

“What we're doing is like, if we see people out like this, you know, like, the front yard looks like it does. We just stop, ask them what we can do,” Peters said.

Kapusta said people asked how they could help as early as Monday.

“There's something amazing about people coming together to serve one another,” Kapusta said.

It’s why the damage broke Peters’ heart.

“Seeing this. I was devastated. It made me so sad, because our island is so full of life,” Peters said.

She said moving to Carolina Beach has been a godsend to her life.

“I came to this island during a really sad time in my life. And it's like where I found joy and peace in the community. And then through our church. And now it's a time for me to give back to the island what has been given to me,” she said.

She was patiently waiting for the right time after the water receded to turn the tide around.

“(We had to wait) until now to really be able to get out and help people,” Peters said.

Yet where there is bad, good can also be found.

The Lifepoint Church pastor said their goal is to respond to the needs of the community members as they come in. Kapusta said they plan to continue their efforts next week, if not the next two weeks. 

If you would like to help or need help please click this link offered by the church.