You've probably heard and we hope you haven't forgotten about when Harvey May lamp on August
25th leaving 100% of our residents and buildings affected some completely blown away some with
minimal damage some people have left our island with no other option and many of us has been
working away to put things back together ever since among the tireless local residents working
with volunteers donations and our own resources is a little Episcopal church where many have
found hope a place and a way to make a difference in the local recovery efforts Trinity by the sea
is the Episcopal church for Mustang Island and North Padre Island over the last 60 years we've
seen a lot of changes but none as dramatic as the damage from Hurricane Harvey since August 29
four days after Harvey our church has been open for prayer and has been at the center of the
recovery effort in Port Aransas we were the first supply depot we have been coordinating
volunteers with our city and diocese and we have hosted collaboration meetings with local leaders
and been at the center of some amazing creative recovery projects homes for displaced Marlin has
bought RVs for over 20 Port Aransas school families to bring our students back to Port
Aransas and we're not finished yet Trinity along with all the churches and Port Aransas have worked
to distribute the Chamber of Commerce's New Day Port A funds directly to individuals who need help
just to get by after Harvey and of course our first priority was to repair the temporary day
school building until we can build the permanent one while we have spent this money and our initial
energy on helping our residents we still have big financial needs on our church campus our church
was hit as hard as the rest of Port Aransas and we are rebuilding our church property like everyone
else our parishioners are trying to fill the gap between their insurance settlement if they had
insurance and the financial needs of rebuilding their homes and we are doing the same we don't
expect to have as much money donated from within our church community this year much less donations
to rebuild we have the same struggles with the insurance that everyone else has while we have
already raised some funds from donations and will receive some from insurance we still anticipate
needing help to bridge the gap to rebuild for mission and ministry we plan to build an outreach
building to house our recovery and other support groups as well as our thrift store and visiting
youth and mission groups we're going to build a permanent school building for our day school
which is the only school for 15 month olds to four year olds in Port Aransas we've already
received funding for the amphitheater which will serve as an outdoor worship space as well as a
music and theatrical performance venue for our community for our youth and children of all ages
we're going to build a play pavilion that that can be used for anything from basketball to outdoor
wedding receptions one day we may build a new parish hall but our existing one is being repaired
for the time being we're rebuilding for our community because Trinity by the sea is a major
part and Matthew's gospel Jesus said come to me all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens and
I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart
and you will find rest for your souls we feel that we've been yoked to become partners with God
in providing spiritual and charitable nourishment for our community we see our rebuilding work as
a way to provide rest and encouragement for so many people who consider this their spiritual home
who only come here occasionally and for those who have no spiritual home yet dealing with Harvey
has brought challenges but it's also made us aware of what's most important and that's what
our rebuilding effort is about so that we continue our mission to be a spiritual and charitable
resource of God's love in our community if you or anyone you know can help us rebuild to continue
the wonderful ministry we're already doing and Lord please let us know every bit helps and all
the funds are already during to have encouraged us to keep asking we trust the God will move through
friends and strangers to help us continue to do ministry with our community and to empower our
community to become even better than we were before our please keep praying for us and come visit us
we need volunteers and the beach is still the same thank you for getting us this far we know
we can reach our goal to rebuild our church and continue our ministry for generations to come
hey poor day we blew Harvey away hey poor day we blew Harvey away
