Etowah woman helps kids after hurricane

In the days following Hurricane Dennis, disaster relief volunteers reaching through the front windows of cars to provide victims with much-needed ice, hot meals and other supplies were a familiar sight in the parking lot of Little Escambia Baptist Church, Flomaton. 
   
Volunteers worked in this same parking lot less than a year ago following Hurricane Ivan.
   
But with Dennis came a fresh addition to the relief efforts — Kaye Lee reaching through the back window of the car to hand over a goodie bag and a hug to a surprised and grateful child.
   
After Hurricanes Charley and Ivan, Lee, a member of the Etowah Baptist Association disaster relief team, noticed that while families were having their needs met, one group was being left out — the children.
   
“I felt so sorry for the children because we would hand out cleaning supplies for households, and they would look at me like, ‘Do you not have anything for me?’” Lee said. “God laid it on my heart (then) to have something for the children.”
  
 A member of White Springs Baptist Church, Rainbow City, Lee asked her church for help. As word spread about the new idea, four other churches joined the effort.
   
The five churches provided items such as coloring books, crayons, toothbrushes, toys and stuffed animals, Lee said. 
   
The Encouragers widows group from White Springs Baptist put the bags together. “The widows group can’t come here and volunteer, so it’s their way of sending their love to the children,” Lee explained.
   
And it is working. When Dennis hit, Lee took goodie bags to Flomaton, where they were received with open arms. “One little boy hugged me three times and said thank you because he was so proud to get something,” she noted.
    
“The bags say ‘God loves you,’ so they know that God does love them and that He hasn’t deserted them,” said Lee, emphasizing that the bags are easy to make. 
   
“This is something that … anyone can do,” she said.