By Gabriella Scozzafava
Herald Intern
Sanford’s historic Zion Hope Missionary Baptist Church is fundraising after a fire caused extensive damage to the church’s building on March 18.
After over 40 years as an insured church, Zion Hope was dropped from its insurer in late 2024. The company was no longer servicing Florida, and as a historic building, the church has struggled to obtain insurance ever since, according to Pastor Michael Griffin of Zion Hope. Without insurance, the church is turning to GoFundMe and the community for its costly recovery.
The church set a $100,000 goal for the fundraiser, but Griffin, who has served at the church for 23 years, said that is just the starting point.
“We know that, you know, material, labor and things like that are very expensive,” Griffin said. “Hopefully, we get there, but we are trusting God to put it on the hearts of the people to do what they can do.”
Patricia Phelps, a senior usher and financial assistant at Zion Hope, said she was asleep at home when she received the call about the fire and immediately rushed to the scene, where she saw five to eight fire trucks working to get the fire under control.
“I can just see the flames coming up out of the roof of the church, and I just said ‘oh my God, Jesus help us, Jesus, Jesus,” Phelps said. “So it was just so devastating for me to see that.”
Griffin was in South Carolina when he heard about the devastation. He said a neighbor discovered the fire coming from the roof of the church around 4 a.m. The fire caused damage to many areas of the church, including the roof, flooring, pews, and drywall. Services moved to the educational building next door as a result, Griffin said.
The tragedy was devastating because Zion Hope has been serving the community for over a hundred years, with generations of families worshipping there. The church regularly hosted community events, including free meals and market days. According to GoFundMe, Zion Hope is “a place of worship, comfort, and connection.”
“It’s like a second home, your family,” Phelps said. “…I think for everybody, it’s just a gathering where we can go and fellowship with the believers and then get the word of God too.”
Despite the history and memories lost, the church remains resilient with the help of generous responses from the community. Griffin said the young members of the church spearheaded the GoFundMe effort to raise awareness of the cause online. Because of this, the GoFundMe shows more than $10,000 raised for the church with more than 70 donations. Others are showing their support by dropping off checks to the church, Griffin said.
It’s not just the monetary acts that are getting Zion Hope through. Other churches have offered their buildings for Zion Hope to host its services as the church recovers. Griffin said volunteers have also been showing up at the church, dedicating upwards of 12 hours to the cleanup efforts.
“A lot of it is people coming up in their cars, I don’t even know — Black, white, Hispanic, all nationalities — saying, ‘What can we do?’,” Griffin said.
While the church still needs more donations to reach its goal, church members expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support Zion Hope has received from the community. Phelps said the loss the church has suffered is painful, but prayer and faith keep the community hopeful.
“We’re going to keep the faith, believing that God can do the impossible,” Phelps said.
