Goliath: Spurred outreach

Snow storm Goliath was the precise opportunity for Living Word Church of God music minister and Celebrate Recovery facilitator Bonetta Hutson to exercise outreach — making sure her fellow members were safe during the storm.

Hutson said she spent time at Pastor David Stevens' home with his family.

"I didn't want to be stranded in an apartment, and at least I would be with friends," said Hutson. "That's the big advantage of having a close-knit church. As we watched it get heavier and heavier, we kind of braced ourselves."

Hutson said she played games with the family, while Davena Stevens, the pastor's daughter, kept things optimistic.

"She wasn't looking at it like this could be a serious catastrophe," said Hutson. "It made it more light-hearted. It was nice just to have the safety of each other. We kind of made a camp-out and just waited it out. We all kind of banded together and checked on everyone. We made phone calls, we wanted to make sure everyone was OK."

The close connections between churches and church members made it easier to keep in touch with people, with members making sure some of the elderly single members had a place to stay, Hutson said.

But there were other concerns, she added.

"One of the concerns we had was there was not a shelter that was set up. That fueled our interest. What can we do to prevent this?" said Hutson. "We don't want to have the predicament of what happens before. We want to try to get to it before it happens."

One year later, Hutson is already seeing the efforts to prepare grow.

"Everybody's more vigilant that they've made arrangements," she said. "We've been talking for months via Facebook, (discussing) what can we do to get a shelter in place, talking with different people from various churches. We know that there's a need.

"I've seen how people are gathering blankets together and reaching out so the message gets around. When the word gets out, people in the community do what they can to help the situation."