November 26, 2001
Baptist volunteers dish up traditional Thanksgiving dinner for flood victims
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___AUSTIN--Turkey and dressing, yams with marshmallows melted on top, cranberry sauce and green beans.
___These were the ingredients of a traditional Thanksgiving meal provided by Texas Baptist volunteers to about 1,500 victims of mid-November flooding near Austin.
___It was a holiday feast "like Mama used to make," said Jered Sellers, a member of First Baptist Church in Plains and coordinator of the Texas Baptist Men relief effort in central Texas. But the number of people being served would be hard for Mama to image.
___They brought in an oven from West Texas for the task. It was "big enough you can walk around in it," Sellers said.
___The American Red Cross provided the food, and Texas Baptist Men volunteers did the cooking.
MILTON Schmidt pours up food to be cooked at the Texas Baptist Men disaster relief unit near Austin. Schmidt is a member of First Baptist Church in Dallas and has served with disaster relief since 1977.
___Texas Baptist Men, a ministry of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, had no trouble getting volunteers to give up time with their own families, because they have a "heart to serve," Sellers said. Having time off from jobs actually made it work better for some.
___"People with a giving heart are always looking for some place to serve," he said.
___While the volunteers willingly left their homes, Sellers said, the flood victims didn't have the choice of leaving theirs.
___Most of the victims served by Texas Baptist Men lived in mobile homes, he explained. "I've seen houses washed nearly completely away." Others caved in from the pressure of water passing through them. A watermark halfway up the door of one home indicated the depth of the floodwaters at their crest.
___For those who still have a home, "the families are dragging carpet out," Sellers said. "They're having to throw their furniture away."
___In the midst of such shattered lives, "the best way to be a witness for Christ is just to go feed them and just love them," he said. "Don't go beat them over the head with the Bible; just love them."
___The disaster relief unit from Dallas arrived in the area Friday, Nov. 16, and set up the kitchen at the Del Valle Independent School District bus barn east of Austin. The first crew of 10 volunteers prepared 9,200 meals during the first three days.
___Another crew of about eight men and three women moved in the day before Thanksgiving. They were expected to prepare meals through the following Sunday.
___Sellers served with Texas Baptist Men volunteers earlier in the year when rainwater inundated the Houston area. "This isn't nearly as large a scale as Houston, but the impact is the same on the families," he said. "This disaster is just as big to that family who lost everything.
___"If we're going to be witnesses for Christ, right now is the best time, on Thanksgiving, so we can show sacrificial love for these people," Sellers said. "Pray for the victims. Pray that they'll find Christ and that Christ will help them through it like we know he will."
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