Posted on 09/02/2005 2:00:26 AM PDT by dixie sass
Response to Hurricane Katrina largest ever for Southern Baptists
August 31, 2005
By Tim Yarbrough
ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Response to Hurricane Katrina will be the largest ever for Southern Baptists with more than 1,000 volunteers and 100 mobile Disaster Relief units activated to hurricane and tornado ravaged regions of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.
By day’s end Wednesday, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers from as far away as New Mexico, Michigan and Virginia were serving in various capacities at more than 20 locations. Mobile kitchen teams were set to begin operations at many locations today. Southern Baptist volunteers also are manning two American Red Cross kitchens and two Salvation Army kitchens.
Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief has activated kitchens, cleanup and recovery operations to Carrolton, Ga., where 100 homes were damaged or destroyed resulting from hurricanes spawned from Katrina.
“We’ve worked for 35 years to build capacity to respond to something like this. It will be a major test,” said Jim Burton, director of volunteer mobilization at the North American Mission Board (NAMB) in Alpharetta, Ga. “This is day three of the disaster, which is typically the most difficult day. We are beginning to understand the extent of the damage and the logistical challenges that lie ahead.”
As Katrina approached the Louisiana and Mississippi coastline earlier in the week, the American Red Cross requested Southern Baptists ready enough volunteers and services to feed 300,000 people a day. Because devastation from the hurricane is so widespread, it has been difficult for response teams to get into effected areas.
“The roads and security are still a major issue,” said Mickey Caison, disaster operations center manager. “It is difficult to get water and other supplies in. That continues to be a problem.”
“We had one unit assigned yesterday to New Orleans, but it was stopped by the Mississippi State Patrol and has since been re-assigned to Baton Rouge,” said Burton.
Burton said if all goes well Southern Baptist volunteers should be serving 300,000 meals by the weekend.
Hurricane Katrina is one of the most powerful storms to ever hit the United States. Damage estimates already exceed $25 billion, according to published reports.
Following is the latest information about where Southern Baptist Disaster Relief units have been activated in Louisiana and Mississippi:
Louisana – Baton Rouge, Alexandria, Lafayette, Bogalusa, Covington, Hammond, Prairieville and Kenner.
Mississippi – Biloxi, Pascagoula, Hattiesburg, McComb, Meridian, Clinton, Laurel, Lucedale, Gautior and Hattiesburg.
Other units are located in Mobile, Ala., and Carrolton, Ga.
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief has more than 600 mobile disaster response units and 30,000 trained volunteers. State Baptist conventions recruit and train volunteers from Southern Baptist churches. NAMB coordinates multi-state and international responses by Southern Baptist Disaster Relief.
Contributions to offset direct costs of the disaster relief response may be sent to state conventions, associations or churches responding to the effort, or to the North American Mission Board. NAMB contributions may be made online at www.namb.net/dr or mailed to the North American Mission Board, Box 116543, Atlanta, Ga., 30368-6543.
For regular updates on Southern Baptist Disaster Relief efforts, visit www.namb.net/dr.
SBC ping to #39 & 40
Theo, Rightly Biased is going to start one. I don't have a ping list. Sorry.
Sorry, dixie. Thought you had one.
Thanks. :o)
These are the people some call, most vociferously, "The American Taliban".
SBC PING #39 and #40 good info.
Looks like most of you beat me here I had connectivity issues this am.
Great news we took in 40 evacuees at our church here in Texas.
And as we gave them meals we gave them bibles.
Keep on keepin on God Bless.
RB<><
My church is collecting donations but not clothing. I've got good clothing to donate. Anyone know who accepts clothing?
Tha Salvation Army does and many local church charities do. They have thrift stores where people like yourself can drop off your donated items where they then sort and/or clean the items and load up delivery trucks. Any people donating clothes please wash them, fold and place in strudy plastic bags so as not to burden these charity organizations any more than they already are.
Praise the LORD! So good to serve Him!
:o)
Check with GoodWill, the Salvation Army, Red Cross, The Kidney Foundation and United Way.
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