On 8/12, the EOC of Seminole County called our shelter into action for what we called Operation Charley. We set up all afternoon and opened our shelter on 8/13 at 8 AM. We were to accept displaced evacuees from the Tampa Bay area. Our first family arrived around 1PM from Tampa Bay. We house 2 young sisters, one who was paralyzed and in a wheelchair from Tampa. About 4 PM we were contacted by the county that we were actually in the path of Charley as we are located right on I-4 in Longwood and we needed to take prepare ourselves for the eye of the storm. We kept receiving persons and families with pets until about 6 PM when the rains and winds became so bad that we could no longer open our doors. We lost power around 6:30 PM with 66 evacuees, 56 howling animals and 20 volunteers. Seminole County assigned Deputy Bonnie Summerlin to our shelter for security and communication purposes. After a corporate prayer in our Fellowship Hall, one- half of our group entered into a hallway in the center wing of our education building, the other half in the kitchen as Officer Summerlin informed us that the eye would be over our location around 9:10 PM. It was a harrowing experience for all, the winds and rain were unbelievable as trees and signs came flying at the building. Although we lost power, our building and roof held thanks to God. Our last shelter guests left at 11 AM on Sat. 8/14 and we started the process of clean-up. We still do not have power at the church, but were glad that we were able to offer a safe haven to evacuees and their pets, doing the ministry that God has called us to at Sanlando.

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