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By LEAH INGRAM EAGLE | Special to the Reporter

CHELSEA – Chelsea Presbyterian Church pastor James Daniels said that he loves the fact that he pastors a small church and they don’t need him to lead them—they come up with ideas and run with them.

“I want my people to be excited about certain things and take the lead, and they did,” Daniels said. “They said ‘We’re passionate about this and what we want to do.’”

After Hurricane Helene, several members of the church wanted to get involved and help those who had suffered devastation, and it wasn’t long before things got rolling.

Two couples spearheaded the effort, Genny and Jay WIlliams and Lee and Amy Gravelee.

“The initial goal was to collect things,” Daniels said. “We wanted to streamline the process.”

Daniels said sometimes people worry about donating to a large organization and the items or funds don’t get to the place you want them to be.

“It was all about relationships,” he said. “They had a lot of relational connections. Some were friends, some were people they knew and that was what excited me about it. It wasn’t like we had to go through some organization. They had connections and the right relationships to get the items to the people who needed it as fast as we could.”

Daniels said Chelsea Presbyterian is about organic connections and relationships. The members find their passion or something they are good at, and take it from there instead of feeling like they have to go through him as the pastor.

“I was very proud of the people in our church that stepped up and said ‘We’re going to do this,’” he said. “Our people rallied around that and got donations to hook up to trailers over the course of three or four days.”

After members reached out to their neighbors and networks, they collected a variety of items—the largest being water. Thinking ahead of how those affected could provide food for themselves, grills were also donated so those affected could cook for themselves.

Other items donated included clothing, baby formula and pet food. Daniels said they tried to make it not just what they wanted to donate, but what was actually needed.

Daniels said that while they were the boots on the ground, that God laid out this project in a way that couldn’t have been planned. After collecting all of the items in Chelsea, they were taken to a church in Anniston who got the items to North Carolina.

“At some point you do the next right thing and God takes over the rest of it,” Daniels said. “Everyone on my team would say we don’t need credit for this. It’s not about the organization or me as the pastor. If I had one thing to say about our church, it’s that we serve without expectation. We don’t care if we get a thank you or not, and I think that’s a big deal.”