Visibly moved by the Portland tragedy which claimed the lives of 14 people in treacherous circumstances Friday night, Bishop Herro Blair yesterday mobilised his congregation to pray for the affected families and raised an offering to help those who were in need.

The bishop, who likened the incident to the 1957 Kendal train crash which claimed an estimated 200 lives, urged members of the Faith Cathedral Deliverance Centre off Waltham

Park Road in Kingston, to give from the heart.

“Some family member who cannot afford it will be helped. I want you to sacrifice something as if it was your own brother and sister who was in that accident,” he implored his members.

Responding, scores of persons moved to the altar to give their money, notable because they had just before given their weekly tithes and offering as well as their “sacrifice of praise”, an annual fund-raising endeavour to help the church carry out its activities in the coming year.

One woman was barely able to control herself as she screamed: “Why, Jesus, why?” throughout the collection.

Bishop Blair said many families were now hurting as a result of the accident, as some persons who were the sole breadwinner for their families were taken away while going out to make their living.

“That’s why when you go to the Coronation Market or any other market for that matter and the people them give them price, don’t cuss them out, because you don’t know what they have to go through to get there,” he said.

He was referring to the sudden death that struck the 14 as the ill-fated market truck plunged 30 metres into a ravine in pitch darkness at Dam Bridge, sending the parish and the country into mourning.

The pastor said the offering raised would be given to the Portland Parish Council or to the prime minister, if he decided to start a fund to help the affected families in the parish.

Bishop Blair earlier led the congregation in a two-minute prayer session seeking strength and comfort for those affected, including the children who had lost their parents in one of Jamaica’s worst road tragedies.

He said the church would adopt a family who had been affected and he, along with other persons, would be visiting the affected communities this week to offer further support to help in their recovery.

Blair said that just last week, the church had also given about $100,000 to the mayor of Portland to help residents within the beleaguered parish.