HOUSTON – When disaster strikes, the first place many people go is to a church.
In Sunnyside, that’s exactly what hundreds did in the days after Hurricane Beryl left well over two million Houstonians in the dark amid triple-digit heat index temperatures.
At the First Missionary Baptist Church in Sunnyside, they were welcomed with open arms. However, it comes at a cost for the congregation that now has to face a forecasted electric bill nearly 10 times their typical bill.
For seven days following Beryl stranding many in Houston’s heat, the church along Briscoe Street in Sunnyside became an outlet to help the local community survive—literally.
They offered a space to cool down, outlets to charge your phone and keep medical equipment running and a hot meal.
“God has never left me behind and I believe that taking care of his people, I think God is smiling on what we did,” said Pastor Henry Price II.
Over the course of the seven days, the church was open to residents 24/7. Hundreds of people took advantage of the lifeline tucked away in their neighborhood.
“The Lord left the lights on here and everybody else lights was off,” Pastor Price said. “It was my duty to invite everybody into the Lord’s house.”
It’s almost a miracle that the church never lost power while it was surrounded by power outages. The pastor taking that as a sign to open up and allow his community inside, whether it be for a few minutes or a few days.
“People were saying you’re going to sleep in a sanctuary,” Price said. “Well, that’s what it is, a sanctuary. And so, we had people sleeping all on the pews, wherever they could fit in. During the storm that was doing, portable hemodialysis. I had people here. That was plugged up to heart monitors and all of that stuff.”
As you could imagine, keeping the lights on, the AC cranked cold and offering everyone a space to charge up ran up their electricity bill quickly.
“Our monthly utility bill is $850,” the pastor told KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding. “We’re looking for the bill to be up around $8,000 or $9,000 for this month.”
That’s roughly ten times their normal amount. It’s a big check that the pastor will have to find some way to write.
“I’m sure that the Lord will make a way,” Price said.
This isn’t just a one-off thing for this church helping the community.
Every single month, they hand out hundreds of boxes of food from the food bank to help people that need it most. Giving them A/C and power is just another example of how they help the Sunnyside community.
“When you’re doing it and the people in need, that’s all that matters,” Price said.
That big power bill still lingers over his head though.
After making some calls, it turns out FEMA does help churches that help others during disasters.
It’s help like this that will make it easier for a small church like First Missionary Baptist Church to weather a storm like Beryl.
But Pastor Price has faith no matter what they’ll make it through to sunnier days.
“We’ve been in this situation before. You know, and if the Lord did it before, he’ll do it again. I really believe that,” he said.