Sep 29, 2003
By James Dotson
"(The man and his wife) were overwhelmed that people from Tennessee
would come to Virginia Beach to help them and help others," said Jim Arterburn
of New Tazewell, Tenn. "When we were leaving they began to cry, and it made us
cry, and we just had a big old cry party in their front yard. They were praising
God that we were there."
As of Sept. 29, the largest response in the
history of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief continued at an aggressive pace in
Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland. A total of 134 units from 22 states have
been activated to date, with 83 units currently serving. Those included 23
mobile kitchens, 36 cleanup and recovery units, 17 mobile shower trailers, five
communications units, a laundry unit and an assessment unit.
Nearly
700,000 meals had been prepared -- most for distribution in partnership with the
American Red Cross and Salvation Army. Cleanup and recovery units had completed
704 jobs, with 1,554 additional jobs scheduled, and shower units had provided
6,108 showers. Southern Baptist volunteers had contributed 7,365 cumulative days
of labor.
The experience in the Virginia Beach yard was one of the many
positive responses volunteers continue to see daily.
At Kempsville Road
Baptist Church in Virginia Beach, mobile kitchen coordinator Bill Curington of
Knoxville, Tenn., told of families in the feeding line expressing their
appreciation for the hot meals. One boy told him, "It's a lot better than what
I've been getting. I've just been getting snacks. I haven't been getting any
food."
Greg Winters, of Hilldale Baptist Church in Clarksville, Tenn.,
led three people to Christ during the first two days of serving on a recovery
unit based at Kempsville Road Baptist Church, according to Hilldale Baptist's
Max Holt. As one of the volunteers assigned to help drag branches away, Winters
was encouraged to seek opportunities to share Christ with residents. He used the
FAITH evangelistic presentation to lead a friend of one resident to Christ the
first day and a husband and wife at another home the next.
In Gloucester,
Va., Jim Noble, disaster relief director for the Southern Baptist Conservatives
of Virginia Convention, said their shower trailer has been able to provide
several hundred hot showers each day to area residents -- often with a long
line. It has also been a great opportunity for talking with people about their
faith.
"It's just a real visible ministry," he said. "We've had several
35 to 50-year-old guys say things like, 'I never thought about my Mama's church
having compassion, but we see compassion here now.' They're putting their Mama's
religion together with the shower unit in the parking lot, and they're trying to
figure out how that works."
The unit also has been able to hand out 100
Bibles to interested individuals.
Several Disaster Relief leaders noted
how the storm has pulled people together, with residents eager to help Southern
Baptists and other relief workers.
Curington said one area resident
volunteered to ride on a Red Cross vehicle to help deliver meals while her
teenage son helped for several hours with odd jobs around the mobile kitchen
site in Virginia Beach.
And in Gatesville, N.C., volunteer Eddie Williams
of Spruce Pine, N.C., said residents there often seemed more interested in
helping neighbors than in helping themselves.
"I went to a lot of homes
that had a bad situation with trees, and their first comment was, "We'll be OK.
You go help somebody else who needs it more," he said.
He also noted how,
as in other areas, they are joined by area tree specialists and heavy equipment
operators willing to donate their time.
"We couldn't have accomplished
what we've accomplished without them," he said. "... I've been very impressed
with the people. They've been very supportive and willing to help wherever they
can."
About 28,000 trained volunteers currently are part of the Southern
Baptist Disaster Relief network nationwide. The units generally are owned and
operated by state conventions, local associations and churches, and are
coordinated nationally by the North American Mission Board
(NAMB).
Contributions to offset direct costs of the 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/disasterrelief or mailed to 4200 North Point Parkway, Alpharetta,
Ga., 30022.
For regular updates on Southern Baptist Disaster Relief
efforts, visit www.namb.net/dr. A downloadable video and photos depicting the
response are available through links at www.namb.net.
--30--
(BP) photo
posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: A WELCOME
WITNESS.
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