Volunteers from Spring and Klein churches have responded to Hurricane Harvey-related flooding by participating in cleanup efforts in area neighborhoods.

More than 200 volunteers from Kinsmen Lutheran Church, located at 12100 Champion Forest Drive, Houston, participated in a day of community service Sept. 3 to help victims of flooding.

The church had already scheduled its fifth annual volunteer day, named “God’s Work. Our Hands,” for Labor Day weekend, but the day’s events were redirected to help clean affected members’ homes as well as neighborhoods, including Lakewood Cove, Enchanted Oaks and Forest Oaks. The neighborhoods were badly damaged in Hurricane Harvey-related floods, said senior pastor Beth Warpmaeker, whose home was also damaged by 4 feet of floodwaters.

Justina Frank, marketing director for Trinity Klein Lutheran Church, located at 5201 Spring Cypress Road, Spring, said the church raised over $48,000 for relief in about three days and rescued 39 families from flooded homes or apartments in the area. Pastor Chris Singer was among those who lost his home in the flooding.

An average of 125 volunteers assisted in cleaning out houses and operating a temporary shelter in the days after the storm, when the church food pantry fed about 300 people each day, Frank said. The church was supported by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in its recent efforts, she said.