October 14, 2002
Texans trail Lili with chainsaws, food
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___ABBEVILLE, La.--Texas Baptist Men brought ham radios, chainsaws, food service equipment, a mobile shower unit and years of disaster relief expertise to southern Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Lili.
___Texas Baptists dispatched their Disaster Relief Mobile Command Post to First Baptist Church of Abbeville, La., and Texas Baptist Men ham radio operators established a communications network in an area where the storm downed many telephone lines.
JIM LEAK, (left) director of missions for Hill Country Baptist Association, and Bill Gresso of Northlake Baptist Church in Garland plan disaster relief operations from the Texas Baptist mobile command post in southern Louisiana.
___Other Texas volunteers worked in the kitchen at First Baptist Church of Abbeville, helping local workers prepare meals for staff at the disaster relief command center.
___They also delivered a mobile generator for use at the command center.
___A chainsaw crew from Collin Baptist Association traveled to southern Louisiana to clear away tree limbs and other debris. The crew was expected to work in the Abbeville area, west of New Iberia and south of LaFayette.
___"The people here have no water, no electricity, and--as in any disaster--some scalpers and cheaters are starting to run through here. The people can't believe we are doing all this for nothing, when there are people trying to charge $200 an hour just to cut up a tree," said Bill Gresso of Northlake Baptist Church in Garland, who was serving at the command center in Abbeville.
___The East Texas regional disaster unit from Tyler served meals from Horseshoe Drive Baptist Church in Alexandria, La.
___Volunteers from Hill Country Baptist Association brought a mobile shower unit from Kerrville to First Baptist Church of Kaplan, La.
___Texas Baptists were part of a multi-state disaster response coordinated by the Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board.
___To contribute to the disaster relief effort, send checks designated "Hurricane Lili" to Texas Baptist Men, 333 N. Washington, Dallas 75246-1798.
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