Church of the Brethren hurricane survivor located at home in Punta Gorda.

A Church of the Brethren member who had not been heard from since Hurricane Charley has been located in her home in Punta Gorda, Fla. "Viola Aldrich was in an area without any phones and could not leave or communicate," reported the General Board's Emergency Response director Roy Winter. "Pastor Jim Longnecker drove to Punta Gorda, finding Viola OK but in need of supplies." She had gone to stay with friends during the storm.

On Aug. 20 Longenecker, pastor of the Arcadia congregation, visited Aldrich's home and found her well, and her house relatively undamaged."That's the power of God," said Longenecker, who with Atlantic Southeast District executive Martha Beach had issued e-mail prayer requests for Aldrich. She is still without telephone, water, or electricity, he said, and is communicating by writing letters. The church youth group plans to help clean up around the house, which lost just a few shingles in an area where many homes were marked with an x as uninhabitable, he said.

Longenecker added that Punta Gorda was "just devastation from one end to another. Arcadia was just as bad." The Arcadia church building received structural damage and will have to be rebuilt. The congregation is working with district and denominational disaster coordinators to plan the rebuilding project, he said.

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Newsline is produced by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, director of news services for the Church of the Brethren General Board, on the first, third, and fifth Friday of each month, with other editions as needed. Newsline stories may be reprinted provided that Newsline is cited as the source.

Source: Newsline 8/23/2004