Halloween costumes delivered to Florida coast
Published 9:29 pm Saturday, November 3, 2018
- Diane Lowry of Moultrie, right, took a selfie with Crystal and her daughter Madison in Port St. Joe, Fla., Monday, Oct. 29. Lowry was delivering Halloween costumes collected by Moultrie churches, and Crystal and Madison — she didn’t get their last names — of First United Methodist Church of Port St. Joe were coordinating efforts to celebrate the occasion.
MOULTRIE, Ga. — Diane Lowry of Moultrie delivered Halloween costumes to Port St. Joe, Fla., last Monday, just in time to celebrate the holiday.
The costumes were collected by five area churches, with some help from The Moultrie Observer, over the preceding few days as part of a relief effort organized by Lowry’s husband, Jim, the retired CEO of Colquitt Regional Medical Center.
Jim Lowry is in contact with people in Port St. Joe, which is the regional distribution center for relief supplies following the landfall of Hurricane Michael Oct. 10. They can tell him what the area needs, and he has partnered with four churches and The Observer to solicit donations of those specific supplies.
Last week’s list included Halloween costumes, and because time was of the essence, Diane Lowry made a special delivery run so that they’d arrive in time for children to participate in a Halloween event being put on by the First United Methodist Church of Port St. Joe.
“Many thanks to all,” she wrote in an email to The Observer. “I think this is the first fun thing enjoyed by PSJ in a few weeks.”
First Baptist Church, First Presbyterian Church, First United Methodist Church, Trinity Baptist Church and The Observer are regular participants in the effort, which kicked off two weeks ago. Heritage Church also collected costumes, and Diane Lowry delivered them all together.
On Thursday, Jim Lowry announced a new list of needed supplies, but with only two items instead of five, the list called for a change in procedure. Instead of each participant being responsible for one of the items on the list, each is responsible for a relatively small number of both items.
Port St. Joe authorities say they need brooms and black, heavy duty yard bags.
Lowry said he hopes each of the four participating churches can gather 50 of each item — plus 50 of each from the readers of The Observer — so that altogether Moultrie will supply 200 brooms and 200 boxes of the yard bags to the area that was hit so hard by the hurricane.
The next pickup will be 1 p.m. on Wednesday. Church members will be at each church’s fellowship hall 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday to collect the items.
