A church in New Orleans gathered funds to help struggling people in the community pay their bills.
Household of Faith Family Worship Church International in New Orleans, Lousiana, recently gathered funds to help people in their community pay their electricity bills. The church's leader said they raised the money because God told them to do so.
The church, headed by Senior Pastor Antoine M. Barriere and wife Dale Barriere, initiated the move upon God's prompting and raised up a total of $125,000. Dale explained that they earlier prayed to the Lord to give them wisdom on how to help those who are hurting.
"Our prayer was how can we help those who are hurting, and He said $100 towards Entrgy bill," Dale said. "Our hope is to encourage the community to never give up and when you think there's no help, out of the blue help steps in," she added, Christian Headlines reported.
The congregation provided the first $50,000. Entergy, the community's electricity provider matched the amount with another $50,000. Church members and business people, on the other hand, gathered their resources together and added another $25,000 to the church's fund for the needy.
As the congregation oversaw the charitable outreach, its move encouraged others in the community to have a part in lending a helping hand to people in the community struggling to pay for their electricity during the pandemic.
Seeing the Barriere's spearheading a charitable deed is not something new to the community. People in the place have known Pastor Antoine Barriere for his good reputation.
Citizens in the community witnessed how the head pastor lends a helping hand to the needy. Dale, his wife, was also known to demonstrate God's love in her actions. People know her as a philanthropist aside from being recognized for her work in the entertainment industry.
The congregation headed by the Barrieres is one among the three Household of Faith Family Worship Church International branches in the city. It is a nondenominational church that envisions "believers who worship Christ strong in faith, family, and finances all to fulfill the Word of God," according to The Christian Post.
The congregation strives "to develop strong faith, healthy families, and wealthy finances, in the lives of God's people, all to fulfill His word," according to their website.
Meanwhile, days before the church spearheaded the fundraising, Entergy faced a controversy amid the pandemic. People in the community went to social media to rage against Entergy. The company allegedly took advantage of the pandemic to hike up the bills for their customers. Complaints claimed that the company doubled the number of its customers' bills as compared to the amount they paid in the past.
Entergy's New Orleans branch provides electricity to homes of over 250,000 people in the community, and also produces natural gas for 108,000 other customers
David Ellis, Entergy CEO explained that the bill hike was due to the cold weather pushing people to use heat more. He added that more people stayed in their houses due to the lockdowns which mean higher energy consumption. The New Orleans City Council will hold a meeting this week to address the issue.
