Cleanup Buckets
This Great Idea stems from Traci Smith’s Treasure Box Tuesday post highlighting the PCUSA’s Disaster Assistance Gift of the Heart Kits and the MN Conference UCC’s COMMAntary response to Hurricane Helene.
Really there’s nothing to this one other than loving our neighbors and sending that love in a five-gallon bucket full of help and hope.
Engage Youth Groups or Intergenerational Groups to create cleanup buckets – filled with specific items necessary in the wake of the hurricane.
Begin your gathering with the prayer shared by Rev. Shari Prestemon, UCC Acting Associate General Minister and Co-Executive of Global Ministries:
“O God of infinite grace and generous love, our hearts tremble to see the destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene. We lift our prayers to you.
Hold close all those whose homes and communities, businesses and places of worship have been overcome by water and wind, who awakened to upended lives and tossed landscapes.
Grant your blessing to all those who will rush to help and heal in the immediate aftermath, to all those who will follow over time to recover and repair what has been lost.
Stir resilience among all those who will walk the long road to full recovery. Receive their tears. Absorb their shock. Console their grieving hearts.
Resurrect what’s been broken and destroyed. Illuminate paths to the future when exhaustion and desolation overwhelm.
Move all of us to respond with hearts of compassion, acts of service, and generous giving.
O God, hear our petitions. And let our prayers endure and our response be sustained until fresh hope arises from the ruins. Amen.“
There are no shortage of videos to share featuring the devastation the hurricane left in its wake. Some images may not be appropriate for all ages, but a video may help to underscore the severity of the situation and the dire need.
The Cleanup Bucket post includes a full list of needed items, all of which fit within a five-gallon bucket. Replace the resealable lid, and the bucket becomes its own shipping container.
Instructions for how and where to ship buckets is in the post – including how to access a bulk discount with Fed Ex Freight.
Read the full post here.
You can also take a special offering and send financial support to the PCUSA, marked, ‘Gift of the Heart – DR000151’. Mailing instructions are in the post.
Our neighbors in the SE are in unimaginable crisis. Here’s a small way to send them love and support.
Financial donations can be shared via all of our supporting judicatories – and then some.
Organizations who will put finances to the best possible use include:
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: Lutheran Disaster Response
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
United Church of Christ Hurricane Helene Relief
United Methodist Church Global Ministries: UMCOR US Disaster Response and Recovery
