{"id":20442,"date":"2025-10-31T03:51:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T03:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/20442\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T03:51:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T03:51:15","slug":"pennsylvania-church-group-helping-hurricane-melissa-victims-in-jamaica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/20442\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania church group helping Hurricane Melissa victims in Jamaica"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tALL OF THEM AFFECTED BY HURRICANE MELISSA, LAUREN RIGGLE IN PARTICULAR. THIS IS MY EIGHTH TIME GOING TO JAMAICA ITSELF. AND TODD, IT\u2019S A BLESSING, YOU KNOW, JUST TO BE ABLE TO GO AND HELP PEOPLE AND BUILD RELATIONSHIPS HAVE BEEN ON SEVERAL SERVICE MISSIONS TO HARMONS, JAMAICA. IT\u2019S COMING. AND, YOU KNOW, ONE ROOM HOUSE WITH MAYBE FIVE, SIX PEOPLE IN LIVING IN IT. WE WORK AT A MEDICAL CLINIC. WE\u2019VE BUILT A MEDICAL CLINIC, REFURBISHED A MEDICAL CLINIC. WE GO INTO THE SCHOOLS AND WE HELP WITH TUTORING. THEY PLAN AN ANNUAL TRIP WITH THEIR ONE BY ONE GROUP AT CHARTER OAK CHURCH. THIS YEAR WE HAVE 21 GOING FROM OUR CHURCH. IT WON\u2019T BE LIKE THE OTHERS. IT\u2019S GOING TO BE AN UNKNOWN FOR US. IN THE AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE MELISSA, OUR EXPECTATIONS ARE WE\u2019RE GOING TO GO BEYOND HARMONS, THE VILLAGE THAT WE NORMALLY WORK IN, AND START HELPING THOSE FOLKS WITH THEIR PROCESS OF CLEAN UP IN THE SCHOOLS, BUILDING THE HOUSE. WE\u2019LL BUILD A FOUNDATION WHILE WE\u2019RE THERE. WE\u2019LL BE REDOING THE ROOFS AND WHATEVER ELSE WE CAN DO. BUT WHATEVER THE GROUP DOES COME ACROSS, THEY\u2019RE BRINGING A LOT. SO WE\u2019VE GOT PEANUT BUTTER, DRY GOODS, DRY MILK THAT THEY CAN BE REFORMULATE WHEN THEY GET DOWN THERE. WE ARE GOING WITH FOOD SUPPLIES, SCHOOL SUPPLIES AND MEDICAL SUPPLIES. THEY\u2019RE ALL GOING TO BE NEEDED REGARDLESS. AND COMING BACK AFTER ONE WEEK WITH A LITTLE THE CLOTHES THAT WE WEAR DOWN THERE THIS WEEK WILL LEAVE BEHIND THE SHOES. EVERYTHING. NOW, I MENTIONED THAT THE GROUP REFERS TO THEMSELVES AS A ONE BY ONE GROUP. THAT IS A SERVICE ORGANIZATION THAT WAS FOUNDED IN DUBOIS, PENNSYLVANIA, AND THEY\u2019RE AT THEIR WEBSITE IS WHERE YOU CAN MAKE DONATIONS TO HELP FUTURE MISSIONS GROUP GOING TO THE CARIBBEAN TO HELP HURRICANE VICTIMS. WE\u2019LL HAVE THE LINK AT WTAE.COM COVERING\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Unity Township church group traveling to Jamaica to help Hurricane Melissa victims<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"WTAE<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tUpdated: 8:03 PM EDT Oct 30, 2025\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\tEditorial Standards \u24d8<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThose in need in Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa will soon have help on the way from Westmoreland County.A few mission groups from Western Pennsylvania go to the Caribbean, and now Charter Oak Church in Unity Township is joining the relief effort.A group from the church will leave in the early morning on Saturday. Lorren Riggle and Todd Hrtyanski are two men going on the trip. They’ve gone to the island many times.\u201cIn particular, this is my eighth time going to Jamaica itself,\u201d said Riggle, the manager of Local Outreach Missions at Charter Oak. \u201cWe organize many trips throughout the year. We go into communities and help out however we can.\u201d\u201cIt\u2019s a blessing to go help people and build relationships,\u201d said Hrtyanksi, the trip\u2019s leader. \u201cWe\u2019ve done this for 20-plus years. You can multiply that, and over the years, think about how much we\u2019ve taken down there.\u201dThey normally help the people of Harmons. \u201cWe continue to go back to the same community,\u201d Riggle said. \u201cWe want to see the evolution and growth of that community through what we\u2019re pouring out. We\u2019ve worked at a medical clinic, built a medical clinic, refurbished a clinic, and we\u2019ll go into the schools and help with tutoring. It\u2019s awe-inspiring in the sense that they\u2019re happy with what they have.\u201dThey organize the trips through the group Won by One. It\u2019s a mission trip organization that originated in DuBois, Pennsylvania. Twenty-one Westmoreland County residents signed up for this year\u2019s trip.However, this trip won\u2019t be like the others.\u201cIt\u2019s going to be unknown for us,\u201d Riggle said. \u201cThis trip was scheduled last November to go down.\u201dIn the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, that changes the game plan of how to help those in need.\u201cOur expectation is to go beyond Harmons and the village that we normally work in,\u201d Riggle said. \u201cWe\u2019ll start helping folks with their cleanup process.\u201c in the schools, we\u2019ll build a house, we\u2019ll build a foundation while we\u2019re there,\u201d Hrtyanksi said. \u201cWe\u2019ll be redoing the roofs and whatever else we can do. Each day, we\u2019ll do different serving opportunities in the community.\u201dRegardless of what the group comes across, they\u2019re bringing a lot with them. Over 1,000 pounds of supplies are being flown down through 21 suitcases. \u201cWe\u2019re going with food, school, and medical supplies,\u201d Riggle said. \u201cThey\u2019re all going to be needed regardless. We\u2019ve got peanut butter, dried goods, and dry milk they can reformulate when they get down there.\u201d After one week, they\u2019re coming back with a lot less.\u201cThe clothes that we wear down there, we\u2019ll leave with them,\u201d Hrtyanksi said. \u201cThis week, we\u2019ll leave behind our shoes and everything.\u201dIf you want to donate to other Won by One groups and help future mission teams going to Jamaica and other Caribbean islands, click here.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tUNITY TOWNSHIP, Pa. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Those in need in Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa will soon have help on the way from Westmoreland County.<\/p>\n

A few mission groups from Western Pennsylvania go to the Caribbean, and now Charter Oak Church in Unity Township is joining the relief effort.<\/p>\n

A group from the church will leave in the early morning on Saturday. Lorren Riggle and Todd Hrtyanski are two men going on the trip. They’ve gone to the island many times.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn particular, this is my eighth time going to Jamaica itself,\u201d said Riggle, the manager of Local Outreach Missions at Charter Oak. \u201cWe organize many trips throughout the year. We go into communities and help out however we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a blessing to go help people and build relationships,\u201d said Hrtyanksi, the trip\u2019s leader. \u201cWe\u2019ve done this for 20-plus years. You can multiply that, and over the years, think about how much we\u2019ve taken down there.\u201d<\/p>\n

They normally help the people of Harmons. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to go back to the same community,\u201d Riggle said. \u201cWe want to see the evolution and growth of that community through what we\u2019re pouring out. We\u2019ve worked at a medical clinic, built a medical clinic, refurbished a clinic, and we\u2019ll go into the schools and help with tutoring. It\u2019s awe-inspiring in the sense that they\u2019re happy with what they have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Charter<\/p>\n

\n\t\tHearst Owned\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCharter Oak Church in Unity Township<\/p>\n

They organize the trips through the group Won by One. It\u2019s a mission trip organization that originated in DuBois, Pennsylvania. Twenty-one Westmoreland County residents signed up for this year\u2019s trip.<\/p>\n

However, this trip won\u2019t be like the others.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be unknown for us,\u201d Riggle said. \u201cThis trip was scheduled last November to go down.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, that changes the game plan of how to help those in need.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur expectation is to go beyond Harmons and the village that we normally work in,\u201d Riggle said. \u201cWe\u2019ll start helping folks with their cleanup process.<\/p>\n

\u201c[We\u2019ll be] in the schools, we\u2019ll build a house, we\u2019ll build a foundation while we\u2019re there,\u201d Hrtyanksi said. \u201cWe\u2019ll be redoing the roofs and whatever else we can do. Each day, we\u2019ll do different serving opportunities in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Won<\/p>\n

Regardless of what the group comes across, they\u2019re bringing a lot with them. Over 1,000 pounds of supplies are being flown down through 21 suitcases. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going with food, school, and medical supplies,\u201d Riggle said. \u201cThey\u2019re all going to be needed regardless. We\u2019ve got peanut butter, dried goods, and dry milk they can reformulate when they get down there.\u201d <\/p>\n

After one week, they\u2019re coming back with a lot less.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe clothes that we wear down there, we\u2019ll leave with them,\u201d Hrtyanksi said. \u201cThis week, we\u2019ll leave behind our shoes and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you want to donate to other Won by One groups and help future mission teams going to Jamaica and other Caribbean islands, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALL OF THEM AFFECTED BY HURRICANE MELISSA, LAUREN RIGGLE IN PARTICULAR. THIS IS MY EIGHTH TIME GOING TO…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[12706,14146,524,107,14153,14151,12172,14150,12353,14149,5914,28,30,29,521,14152,13524,14147,1419,5910,14148,78],"class_list":{"0":"post-20442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-caribbean","9":"tag-charter-oak-church","10":"tag-community","11":"tag-group","12":"tag-harmons","13":"tag-hrtyanksi","14":"tag-hurricane-melissa","15":"tag-hurricane-melissa-victim","16":"tag-jamaica","17":"tag-lorren-riggle","18":"tag-need","19":"tag-pennsylvania","20":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","21":"tag-pennsylvania-news","22":"tag-school","23":"tag-supply","24":"tag-trip","25":"tag-unity-township","26":"tag-western-pennsylvania","27":"tag-westmoreland-county","28":"tag-won-by-one","29":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}