Hurricane Sandy, The Bronx, and Andrew Mann Update

Missionary Andrew Mann and his K-9 Assistance Animal trained as a professional therapy dog named Proof were featured in the 2011 Big Apple Adventure VBS. Andrew and Proof serve at Graffiti 2 Community Ministries and Graffiti 2 Church in South Bronx. Andrew and Proof introduced each day’s VBS missionary feature on the DVD segments and they attended a couple of the VBS previews. The VBS team loved sharing Andrew and Proof’s story through the VBS 2011 Missions Rotation and getting to know him at the VBS previews.

 After seeing several comments and questions on VBS social networking sites asking if anyone had any information on how Andrew and the community center made it through the recent storms, we decided to check the www.graffiti2ministries.org web site for information. We did not see any information about the effects of the storm, but we did discover a link from the web site to a blog from Andrew discussing his diagnosis and treatment for cancer.
We emailed Andrew for information about the storms and to assure him the VBS team is praying for him after we discovered the news about his cancer. Andrew says that Hurricane Sandy hardly affected Graffiti 2 Community Ministries and Graffiti 2 Church in the Bronx at all. He noted that the main evidence of the storm in their immediate area were some trees down and signs blown off buildings. He indicated that their ministry was able to continue, despite the fact that some places within 10 miles of them faced utter devastation. Andrew did point out that Graffiti in Manhattan did have a basement that flooded as much of their neighborhood experienced severe damage. Graffiti is now hard at work connecting with people through their needs that resulted from the storms. The Metropolitan New York Baptist Association is also extremely busy with relief efforts.
As for the personal storm Andrew is facing with cancer, he believes that God is using this experience in his own life and to minister to others as well. You can read more about ways to pray for Andrew through his treatments at https://cancerousjoy.wordpress.com.
Andrew, the VBS team will continue to pray for you and we are sure others who met you in VBS previews or through the 2011 VBS Missions Rotation will join us. We’ll be checking in on you through your blog and praying for your specific needs.