As of Thursday afternoon, volunteers at Green Acres Baptist Church have given out nearly a thousand hot dogs to those without power, as well as the linemen working to restore power. (Jennifer Scott/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

People across the Tyler community were lending a hand to help their neighbors affected by recent storms.

Churches were among the groups who were taking time to help clear trees and limbs from homes, feeding those without power, and offering tarps, water and other resources. Among those is Green Acres Baptist Church (GABC), which opened its doors this week to not only provide those without power free lunch but as well the use of internet access and air conditioning.

“We just know our neighbors that are … close to the church have been without power,” said John Roach, missions pastor for GABC. “So we’ve opened up our church to offer free food during the day for lunch. We have a cafe that’s open that has Wi-Fi and air conditioning. We have tarps to give away. We’ve also been canvassing our neighborhood behind us just to check on those who are without power, especially the elderly and those in need.”

Over 5,000 in the county were still without power as of Thursday afternoon, and Oncor expects the multi-day restoration efforts to be wrapped up over the weekend. Affected residents should have power Sunday, Oncor said.

In addition to a free lunch and break from the heat, the church on Wednesday and Thursday also offered trailers where people can take hot showers and do their laundry.

“There are still a lot of people, especially in the neighborhood where we are, who are without power,” volunteer Kathy Beauman said on Thursday afternoon. “So, for the last two days, we’ve been grilling out hot dogs, giving out water and chips, and inviting people to drive by and pick them up.”

The volunteers have also gone out to the neighborhoods to deliver food to linemen who are working, as well as residents who have been picking up around their yards. Church volunteers also stepped in to help residents clean up.

“When we’re done serving food, we’ll take a team and go into the neighborhood and help clean up yards,” Beauman said. “We’ve been picking up limbs and such … we have a professional tree person on staff who has been doing a lot of heavy lifting.”

Roach said Jesus helped others and extended kindness to all who were in need, which is something the church believes in sharing with others.

“We’re a church and our primary motivation is Jesus,” Roach said. “We believe that Jesus loved this way, lived this way, and we want people to see an example of what Christ would have done. He offers free salvation. We believe that because He offers free life, we can offer our time, our lives … our resources in a way so that people can see the love for Jesus.”

Staff and volunteers of the church have been helping those in need since the storms, checking on members and those in the surrounding neighborhoods.

“We’ve been concerned about everyone who may have been impacted by these storms,” Roach said. “We’re not going around asking if anyone is a (church) member … we want to make sure that you’re OK. We want to help people out … if you need something, please reach out to us. We may not have all the answers but we’ll do our best to help.”

Lunch, showers and laundry assistance weren’t planned to be activated Friday, but those with a disaster-related need, including cleanup at their homes, can email the church directly at disaster@gabc.org. You can also call 903-646-7610, according to the city.

The City of Tyler provided a list of other churches in the area helping out and offering resources, including:

• Grace Community Church (Contact: 903-593-3800)
• Tyler’s Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints (Contact: 903-871-5117)
• Church of the Pines (Contact: 903-224-8595)

Marvin Methodist Church has also been helping residents in need but by Thursday afternoon, their church had run out of capacity to take on more requests for assistance, according to the city.