An article in the Ensign about the cleanup after Hurricane Andrew in Florida.
At first we struggled to efficiently match members’ needs with available work crews. After finishing a cleanup or repair job, volunteers had to waste precious time locating a working telephone so they could call for their next assignment, and they also faced difficulty finding their way around the area because nearly all street signs were destroyed. To eliminate downtime, we instructed volunteers to simply go to work on neighboring homes after local members’ needs were met. In this way the relief effort was able to help people of all faiths almost from the start, yet volunteers still met immediate Latter-day Saint needs within three or four days. Besides assisting Church members, Latter-day Saint volunteers installed temporary roofs on more than 3,000 homes and also on a Jewish synagogue and three Christian chapels.
Through this experience, we learned not only the wisdom of emergency preparedness but also the truth of what Sister Virginia H. Pearce, first counselor in the Young Women general presidency, said after rehearsing another story of Latter-day Saint disaster assistance: “Multiply this story by every natural and civil crisis. Bishops and quorum leaders accounting for families after hurricanes, members carrying food and blankets—it makes no difference where you live or what kind of chaos might occur, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will remain organized, and order will prevail. The wards and stakes of Zion will be a ‘refuge from the storm’ (D&C 115:6)” (Ensign, Nov. 1993, 80; emphasis in original).
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