September 9, 2017 7:03PM ET

See Beyonce’s Emotional Speech to Hurricane Harvey Evacuees

“This today is a celebration of survival. Y’all are my family. Houston is my home,” singer says

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Beyoncé delivered an emotional speech to Hurricane Harvey evacuees Friday at Houston’s St. John’s Church.

“This today is a celebration of survival,” Beyoncé told her hometown crowd. “Y’all are my family. Houston is my home. I thank God that y’all are safe, that your children are safe. The things that really matter are your health and your children, and your family and your life.”

Beyoncé’s Destiny’s Child bandmate Michelle Williams and mother Tina Knowles joined the Lemonade singer, who previously pledged to aid Hurricane Harvey relief efforts through her BeyGood foundation.

“I just want to say that I’m home. This church is my home. I was maybe nine or 10 years old the first time I sat where my daughter’s sitting. I sang my first solo here,” Beyonce said before turning to her pastor Rudy Rasmus.

“I just want to thank you for lifting my family. For praying for me. And for being such an incredible example of what life and love is.”

During her visit to St. John’s Church, Beyonce also helped distribute food to those affected by the Houston that brought historic flooding to the Texas city and its neighboring areas.

Wow !! How great was this day ? this is our third stop first we went to St. John’s and along with Pastor Rudy . Beyonce Sponsored a luncheon for 400 folks some of the people affected by harvey and had a short program motivation to try tol encourage them and love on them. Second stop we went to the George R Brown convention center , where we talk to some of the residents about the needs and toured the facility Third stop we traveled to accompany one of lHouston’s Best real life Heroes Trae That Truth to serve food to the residents of this complex ! This man delivers supplies that were donated by generous people like you . It was fun unloading the truck and organizing the sizes . Please keep the donations coming! .❤️❤️ Thats Michelle Williams at the beginning of line, serving the chicken , Beyonce on Green beans and me on bread duty. Ingrid over there serving deserts.

A post shared by Tina Knowles (@mstinalawson) on Sep 8, 2017 at 9:50pm PDT

Beyoncé was among a handful of celebrities – including Kevin Hart, Janet Jackson and Jennifer Garner – who visited evacuees at Houston-area shelters Friday, the Associated Press reports.

On September 12th, Beyoncé, Drake, Justin Bieber, Oprah Winfrey and George Clooney will be among the artists and celebrities appearing on the Hand in Hand: A Benefit for Hurricane Harvey Relief telethon, which airs at 8 p.m. EST on ABC, CBS, CMT, Fox and NBC as well as stream live on social media.