Posted: 10/3/03
Texas Baptist Men respond far & wide
By Ken Camp
Texas Baptist Communications
Texas Baptist Men disaster relief volunteers responded simultaneously to disasters 1,800 miles apart in late September, offering aid in Maryland and the Rio Grande Valley.
A 10-member team from the Wichita-Archer-Clay Baptist Association and from East Texas left Dallas Sept. 25 to provide emergency food service in Middle River, Md. The area continued to suffer from flooding and power outages after Hurricane Isabel. In their first four days, the Texas Baptist volunteers prepared about 16,000 meals.
Jered Sellers of Bellaire Baptist Church in Lubbock accompanied the group to serve as coordinator for the multi-site disaster response and to train Maryland Baptist disaster relief leaders.
The Texas Baptist disaster relief mobile unit–an 18-wheel tractor-trailer rig equipped with a self-contained field kitchen–and a large food trailer was activated Sept. 24 for service in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area. However, volunteers on board the units were recalled to Dallas after the North American Mission Board reassessed needs.
At the same time, the South Texas regional disaster response unit and a shower trailer from Hill Country Baptist Association were deployed to the San Benito area to respond to floods in the lower Rio Grande Valley. By Sept. 30, the volunteers had prepared about 2,000 meals, and the shower unit was serving about 200 people a day.
Meanwhile, vehicles continue to join the Texas Baptist disaster relief fleet. Austin Baptist Association recently secured the first mobile laundry unit west of the Mississippi and the fourth one in the national Baptist disaster response volunteer network, according to Bill Herring, disaster relief coordinator in Austin.
The custom-made 16-foot tandem-axle trailer includes three washing machines and three dryers, with an on-board generator and propane supply. The unit, valued at about $12,000, was secured through the gifts of churches and individuals in the Austin area.
Texas Baptist Men also now owns a 48-foot box trailer that is being converted into a mobile bunkhouse. The unit will provide on-site lodging for volunteers during disaster relief operations.
Chief Lawson, who served as director of evangelism and Baptist Men with the Indiana and New Mexico Baptist conventions before retiring to Lucas, initially planned to sell the trailer to Texas Baptist Men. But after praying about it, he decided instead to donate it for disaster relief ministries.
Bon Air Service donated an exterior air conditioning unit, and Gunder & Associates donated the interior air conditioning system. Texas Baptist Men Builders will construct bunks, providing free labor. And it appears that lumber for that project–along with mattresses, a washing machine and dryer–also may be donated, said Dick Talley, logistics coordinator for Texas Baptist Men.
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