CFC goes door-to-door in flood-prone areas
Kenyari Fields, far left, talks to volunteers after going door-to-door in flood zone areas Sunday to raise awareness after Hurricane Florence. Photo by Junious Smith III / Neuse News
A group of leaders and volunteers joined together Sunday to continue informing residents about flood risks from Hurricane Florence.
The CFC, or A Community Feeding a Community group, went to several flood zone areas in Kinston, knocking on doors to bring awareness to the masses about possible flooding in areas prone to it. The group hit Mitchell Wooten, Holloway, John C. Hood, Cedar Lane, Lincoln Street, and Caswell Street to spread the message and provide safety tips.
Among the members of the group was Mayor Pro Tem Felicia Solomon, who said it was a vital undertaking.
“We wanted to join in, get the word out and spread emergency contact numbers,” Solomon said. “We also went to see if any individuals needed help moving some of their items to higher ground, making that last-ditch effort to make sure members of our community were safe and provide help where needed.”
Kenyari Fields said CFC came together in 2016 during Hurricane Matthew as a way to assist the area through tough times, and additional planning helped bring about this endeavor.
“The river was projected to flood again, so (Kinston City Councilwoman) Kristal (Suggs) brought the idea to the group and suggested we go out to tell people to evacuate,” Fields said. “When we found out there weren’t evacuation orders, we did it to raise awareness and let people know what’s going on.”
“A lot of people were aware of the flooding potential, and a lot of people were oblivious. Some people took heed and started moving — one family, immediately after we knocked got up and said they needed help moving things and we were able to do that. A lot of the families were already proactive — they went through it with Matthew, so they were ready.”
Suggs said the focus was to bring as much information to the public as possible.
“We just wanted to make sure everyone’s as informed as they possibly could be,” Suggs said. “We’re not telling anybody to evacuate, but we’re telling them to be alert and ready.”
Kingdom Life Empowerment Ministries pastor Darryl Tindley Jr. said it was all about assisting the masses.
“We’re here to serve the community,” Tindley Jr. said. “Wherever there’s a need, we'll try to address it. The need today was to create awareness, and at this point, I think we successfully made an impact. I don’t know if people will take heed, but just because the actual water levels have decreased, or the projections have, we still don’t take this lightly.”
