Bradenton Herald: PUNTA GORDA, Fla.  It was hard to spot a church that wasn't open immediately after Hurricane Charley ravaged Charlotte County.
Amid the chaos of cleanup, the churches provided food, supplies and comfort to a traumatized population coming to grips with the catastrophe before them. Places of faith turned into places of survival, where residents could get a cold shower, a hot meal or new clothes  atheist, agnostic and believer alike, pastors say.
Thousands of church members, strangers-turned-volunteers and church affiliates from around the country flocked to area churches to build up food, water and supply stockpiles and give them away to residents. Nearly every church Tuesday from South Punta Gorda Heights to Port Charlotte along U.S. 41 offered some sort of aid, if the church was still standing.
