HOLT, Fla., Aug. 27, 2026—Disaster struck the Holt Community Food Pantry this afternoon when half a tree fell on the building.

A large oak tree behind the building where the pantry sits at 551 Southside Dr. split around 3 p.m. about three hours after a big thunderstorm moved through the area.

By the time the incident occurred, winds were calm and the sky had rained itself out.

Holt resident Garvin Leonard heard the tree crack from his house on Corbin Road, just 700 feet from the pantry.

“That was a big tree,” he thought to himself when he heard the crack. He figured the tree was in the woods near his home. 

He was right. It was a big tree. But it wasn’t in the woods.

Another Holt resident, Bruce Gross, was cutting wood with his son next door to the pantry and saw the tree hit the building. They both ran to the pantry and banged on windows and doors to make sure there was no one inside.

The tree punctured three holes in the pantry roof and appeared to be resting on the building.

Inside, ceiling board mixed with attic insulation littered the floor. Other than tree limbs gouging through the ceiling along with a roof joist and no electricity, the pantry seemed relatively unharmed.

Outside was another story.

Fallen limbs not only pulled down the power line outside, they also ripped the electrical box completely off the side of the building. The power line lay buried under a mass of limbs.

CHELCO arrived around 4 p.m. to cut the power. Once that was done, a crew of men from the First Baptist Church of Holt, Holt Fire District and other neighbors arrived, fired up chainsaws and began carefully removing limbs draped over the roof.

After two hours of sweating work freeing the roof of limbs, the roof was covered with a large tarp to protect the inside from the 60 percent chance of rain that is forecast through the weekend.

The bulk of the sheared tree trunk and heavier limbs covering two outside buildings next to to the pantry will be removed by a professional tree service, according to Curt Rainey, paster of the First Baptist Church of Holt. The food pantry is a ministry program of the church.

The pantry has two commercial refrigerators, two commercial freezers and six chest freezers that hold the food volunteers dispense every Wednesday. A USDA food delivery occurred Tuesday, so freezers and refrigerators were full. Getting generator power to the building to ensure the food didn’t spoil was the second priority after removing the limbs and tarping the roof.

As of this writing, pantry volunteers plan to dispense food on schedule next Wednesday, but those plans could change once insurance adjusters inspect the damage.

Barring any changes—and fallen trees—food distribution will be at its normally scheduled time from at 9 a.m. to noon.