Contact: Robert Coleman, Jr., Church of God in Christ, 901-235-2160

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Sept. 5, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) Charities has launched a massive national response to the crisis in the Texas Gulf Coast area by collecting and deploying needed resources.

Photo: West Angeles COGIC opens center in Los Angeles -- Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Mrs. Mae Lawrence Blake, Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake, Sr.
 
COGIC Charities, the benevolent arm of the Church of God in Christ, has set up regional collection centers, in COGIC churches and other facilities around the country, that will collect much needed items over the next two weeks for the victims of Hurricane Harvey.

These regional collection centers are asking their communities for basic needs items, to include hygiene products and kits, toiletries, nonperishable food items, bottled water, new undergarments (for men and women), new men's and women's clothing, new children's clothing, baby diapers (all sizes), baby formula, cleaning products, plastic garbage bins, shovels, tools, and plastic trash bags.

Volunteers at each COGIC regional collection centers are planning to load approximately 40 semi tractor-trailer trucks with the donated items. Our collection weekend is Friday September 15 thru Sunday, September 17,

On Monday, September 18, 2017, following the collection weekend, semi-tractor trailers will depart from each of the regional collection centers nationwide, in route to the COGIC Super Resource Center in Houston, Texas a 25,000 square foot warehouse. The COGIC Ground Zero Task Force, led by the National Missions and Evangelism Departments and volunteers will unload the large trucks at the Resource Center. From the Super Resource Center the Task Force will load and dispatch smaller trucks for rapid ground response, distributing resources to Houston and the impacted Gulf Coast Areas.

COGIC's Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake, Sr. says, "Hurricane Harvey has devastated the Texas Gulf Coast area. Many of our pastors, members and thousands of Houstonians were forced to leave their homes submerged in water, along with several of our churches. The Church of God in Christ will help as many people as possible for as long as possible. Our prayers, our hearts and our resources go out to all of those affected by this overwhelming natural disaster."

To view the COGIC Charities regional collection centers go to www.cogic.org.

The Church of God in Christ, headquartered in Memphis, TN, is one of the oldest and largest Pentecostal denominations in the world and the 4th largest Protestant group in the United States, with churches in 87 countries worldwide and a membership of nearly 6.5 million adherents.