Special service on Sunday will bring Chapel by the Sea back to its roots
Five months after Hurricane Ian destroyed a seaside Florida church, its members will gather beside the storm-ravaged building on Sunday, Feb. 19, for a service that’s being called a Celebration of Healing and Hope.
The congregation of Chapel by the Sea Presbyterian Church hasn’t been back to the site to worship as a group since Ian hit Estero Island in September 2022, destroying the sanctuary and the fellowship hall.
“Just having everybody together on the land, right next to this completely empty sanctuary, will be healing but also highly emotional,” said Clerk of Session Diane Means, who has visited the site with her husband many times since Ian struck. “Every time I go, I cry.”
With winds up to 150 mph, the Category 4 storm tied as the fifth-strongest hurricane ever to make landfall in the U.S. and brought with it an 11-foot storm surge that Chapel by the Sea could not withstand.
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