When a severe storm knocked out power across Gary, Indiana, on Aug. 11, Rijenna Murray began calling home.
Her 87-year-old grandmother was without electricity. So was her 89-year-old grandfather, her 91-year-old aunt, her father and other relatives. The Haughville Seventh-day Adventist Church member, who grew up in Gary and now lives in Indianapolis, knew her grandmother well enough to recognize the significance of what she heard when they finally connected.
Her grandmother, Murray said, is the kind of woman who remains positive even when circumstances are difficult. But this time, she told her granddaughter, “It’s bad.”
The two-week-long power loss had created major problems throughout the entire city. Grocery stores and restaurants were without electricity, leaving residents with few places to get food. Food in home refrigerators and freezers began to spoil. Murray was especially concerned about older residents, including those who needed access to medications or were enduring the heat without air conditioning.
Murray knew she needed to go home.
“I knew that I had to go into action to do something,” she said. “I didn’t know what I can do. I didn’t know where the money was coming from. I wasn’t sure how we were going to be able to do it.”
Murray, president of the Lake Region Conference’s Illiana Youth Federation, had learned that instinct from the people she was now worried about. She decided to make the drive from Indianapolis and take whatever resources she could gather. Word spread among coworkers, friends and others who knew she had family in Gary. Donations began arriving.
“I need flashlights. I need ice. I’m taking hygiene products,” Murray recalled telling people. She also sought cleaning supplies for relatives whose homes had flooded.
Then the response expanded.
Lake Region Youth Director Earl Baldwin contacted Murray to tell her he was looking into what could be done to help the beleaguered community. He later called back to say Lake Region leaders were partnering with Mizpah and All Nations Seventh-day Adventist churches in Gary on a coordinated response.
Howard Hawkins, an elder from the All Nations church had electricity before most and he opened up his beauty school to help the community charge their phones. Meanwhile, All Nations head elder Elijah Daniels mobilized the church to assess needs and led wellness checks.
On Sabbath, Aug. 22, the volunteers joined the response at the Hudson-Campbell Sports and Fitness Center in downtown Gary. The city-owned gym had been converted into a Red Cross shelter, providing electricity, showers and a place to sleep for residents who could no longer comfortably remain in their homes.
The Adventist volunteers from Gary brought two SUV loads of food items and they served breakfast to shelter residents.
On one side of a curtain, people were sleeping on cots. On the other, volunteers were serving food and talking with residents.
Murray met a woman who worked 12-hour shifts at a hospital and had come to the shelter because she needed rest before returning to care for patients.
“These weren’t people that were homeless,” Murray said. “They were unhoused as a result of the storm that had taken place.”
Murray also spent time talking with residents and relatives about damage to their homes and trying to connect them with resources.
After breakfast, the group cleaned the area and moved across the street to an open parking lot, where Baldwin along with Mizpah leadership held a Sabbath worship service.
City-wide Outreach
Murray and a few others also drove across Gary, starting around 12:30 p.m. They continued until darkness fell. “It was so dark, you can put your hand out there and it was pitch black,” she said.
They distributed cold water, ice, fruit, flashlights and batteries. They also carried trash bags for spoiled food, hygiene products and cleaning supplies.
Some of the simplest items brought the strongest reactions.
“People were excited about bags of ice,” Murray said. “You never would have thought that.”
Amid frustration over power restoration and concern about damaged property, Murray saw glimmers of hope.
“Community people came from all over the place,” Murray said. “People galvanized, the community galvanized and did not wait for someone else to do it.”
For Murray, seeing her church among those responding mattered.
“To see them drop everything, to come to Gary was huge for me,” she said. “Just to be present meant everything.”
For Murray, that presence is at the heart of Christian discipleship.
Matthew 25:35-40 describes Christ’s followers feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty and caring for people in need. Jesus identifies Himself with those being served, telling His followers that what they have done for “the least of these,” they have done for Him.
Murray sees service in much the same way.
“God has commissioned us all to serve,” she said. “My life has always been surrounded about serving and making sure that our faith speaks louder than anything else and making sure we are representing Christ in everything that we do,” she said.
The storm brought her back to Gary because people she loved needed help. But those same people had spent years teaching her that service could not stop with family.
“I am returning this favor and ensuring that young people see what is possible, making sure those seniors know that they are loved and all the work that they put in did not go in vain, but that people still care about them.”
To partner with Lake Region Adventist Community Services, visit https://adventistgiving.org/
Debbie Michel is editor of the Lake Union Herald.