Jeremy and Beth Barlet of Bluffton did what most people did when Hurricane Matthew threatened their home a year ago: They evacuated.
When they got back, they soon realized their lives would never be the same.
It’s not because of any damage done by the storm that crashed trees into so many homes.
“We lucked out,” Jeremy said. “We had no damage.”
Instead, Hurricane Matthew blew new purpose into their lives.
It opened their eyes to see Bluffton — and the world — like they’d never seen it before.
It caused them to reach out to serve others.
“We were able to change in our hearts,” Beth said.
It started at Lowcountry Community Church in Bluffton, which they had been attending about two years.
The church was the host site for the international Samaritan’s Purse hurricane relief teams that marshaled volunteers for weeks to clear yards and clean houses. Jeremy and Beth showed up, put on the orange T-shirt and got to work.
That turned out to be the beginning of a new life.
Today, they are active in a new church outreach called “Adopt-A-Block.” They go to the Vista View Apartments in Bluffton on the first Saturday of each month to distribute food, play games with children and tell them biblical stories.
They go to the Union Mission in Savannah most Friday nights to “love on” the homeless, serving a meal, cleaning up, and taking time to talk.
And Beth is now a volunteer with the Greater Bluffton Jasper County Volunteers in Medicine free clinic. She offers her skills in dermatology, which she practices by day as a physician assistant at the Georgia Skin and Cancer Clinic in Hardeeville.
“Hurricane Matthew really solidified everything,” Beth said. “Our involvement in the church and the community really blossomed because of Matthew.”
Their story is typical of booming Bluffton. They’re a young couple who has lived here about two years. They came from Pennsylvania because her parents moved to Sun City Hilton Head about a dozen years ago.
Jeremy and Beth Barlet of Bluffton say Hurricane Matthew was the catalyst to their deeper faith and greater involvement in the community through the Lowcountry Community Church in Bluffton. [Submitted photo]
They had driven down May River Road countless times without knowing the Vista View affordable housing complex existed on a side street near town.
There, they’ve come face-to-face with a different Bluffton. The volunteers divide into teams and go door-to-door, asking what people need.
Beth said they see a lot of single women with children. They play games with children, they dispense food donated by Bluffton Self Help and other nonprofits. They have discovered that many people in need can’t access the help that’s available because they can’t get to it.
And they’ve met the elderly man with a leg partially taken by diabetes who simply wants to talk.
“It could be an hour,” Jeremy said. “We listen.”
They deliver Kool Pops or backpacks to kids, but primarily a sense of joy.
At the Union Mission, where the down and out stay at the Grace House near the Greyhound bus station, they see people who need to feel valued.
“They’re used to everyone looking down on them, or turning the other way” Beth said. “We want to show them that they are worthy.”
They go early to share the stories of their lives.
One man was hit by a tractor trailer, became disabled, got into substance abuse and is trying to rebound at the Union Mission.
The non-denominational Lowcountry Community Church started in 1994 as a gathering of 41 people on Hilton Head Island. It is now on its second generation of buildings after moving to Bluffton, about to open a new 1,000-seat sanctuary to accommodate more than 1,800 people worshiping each week in three services under lead pastor Jeff Cranston. It is one of the fastest growing churches in the nation.
It will send three teams to do hurricane relief work in Texas and Florida over the next month. They will take along $11,000 worth of Wal-Mart gift cards donated here.
Benedette McGuire, director of missions and outreach, said, “We want to get as many people as possible to love and serve our community together.”
Jeremy, a registered nurse, and Beth had been pondering what more they might do for the church when Hurricane Matthew brought them the answers, one after the other.
“I just read an article about Hurricane Harvey that asked ‘where’s God in all this?’ ” Beth said. “He’s moving on the floor level, in good ways. We are trying to be the hands and feet of God. Hurricane Matthew was an amazing catalyst to show what purpose He has for us.”
David Lauderdale: 843-706-8115, @ThatsLauderdale
