“Churches have such an opportunity because they are right in the community.”

Craig Macartney
Senior Writer

“This storm actually was more devastating than both the ice storm and the tornado.”

Donna Boisvert leads Respond Ottawa, a rapid-response task force established by Ottawa’s churches to help in natural disasters. Her team is coordinating with Samaritan’s Purse and churches across the region to lift the city out of distress and bring God’s love and peace into people’s shattered lives.

“The Church is spread all over the city, just like the storm hit all over the city,” Boisvert says. “What Respond Ottawa does is encourage churches to dig in in their own communities. We help resource them to be able to do that. Often it’s the small things that make the biggest difference.”

Boisvert spent much of the past week with the team from Sequoia, her home church, reaching out to a number of the harder-hit areas. The team spent two days helping in low-income housing in Barrhaven.

“They just need people with them to feel like they are not alone.” Photo courtesy of Sequoia Church.

“The ministry of presence is incredible. They just need people with them to feel like they are not alone. There are two four-floor buildings. These people have been in the dark—emergency lighting only lasts so long. All their food is gone and most of the people who live there have mobility issues.”

When Boisvert spoke with Spur Ottawa, the 94 units at The Haven has been without power for four days. The Sequoia teams brought their disaster relief trailer, where they charged phones, served a pancake breakfast, and helped however they could.

“This is what churches can do. Churches need to know it’s not about how much you do. Just find the pockets in your area where they don’t have power and show up with muffins and coffee. Have a ministry of presence. That’s the most important thing right now, emotional support.”

“There are a lot of people in shock,” adds her husband, Mike, a site leader for Samaritan’s Purse.

In many areas, people do not want to leave their homes and do not know where they could go, but their homes are severely damaged. At the same time, all their food is gone. Showing up with a listening ear and some granola bars goes a lone way.

“Every church should think about buying a generator.” Photo courtesy of Donna Boisvert.

“I gave five gallons of water to a lady on Tuesday, and her husband came over and gave me a hug,” Mike says. “There are so many trees on their house that you can hardly see it, massive trees that they will need a crane to lift off. They don’t want to leave, but they need someone to talk to.

“When I left their place, I talked to maybe five different home owners who came out to tell their story and what they are doing. Presence is big. For churches, even if they can take a walk and bring a little bag of goodies to drop off, people will appreciate it.”

Mike was connecting with residents of Pineglen, where they are on wells and septic. For the past week they were without potable water. For other areas, food is a serious concern. Low-income families can’t afford to replace lost food and many foodbanks also lost power long enough to have to throw out all their perishable foods.

“Every church should think about buying a generator,” Boisvert says. “It’s a good investment, whatever size you can get. Churches have such an opportunity, because they are right in the community, to be a place of peace and comfort and rest.”

On Tuesday, Samaritan’s Purse set up a shower trailer at the MET for people who don’t have water. They will soon be set up to send teams out with wood chippers and chainsaws to help clear trees that insurance does not cover.

In the meantime, Boisvert encourages churches to think about the assets they have, for this crisis and in the long term. Respond Ottawa is also available to help churches examine how they can best serve their neighbourhood in times like these.

“This is going to be a long outage in certain areas,” she says. “The more we can help people work through this, it opens up a beautiful conversation about the love of Jesus.”