While Texas Baptist Men continued to provide disaster relief in North Carolina and in the small West Texas town of Sonora, leaders of the missions organization alerted volunteers to be ready for possible deployment to Florida.
“The state of Florida has asked the (TBM) state feeding unit to be on standby due to Hurricane Michael,” Terry Henderson, TBM state disaster relief director, said in an Oct. 9 email. “Please pray about your involvement and availability to go in the near future. No dates have been given yet, but we will send more information as it becomes available to us.”
If deployed, volunteers should be ready for an 11-day commitment—four days travel and seven days preparing meals, Henderson explained.
Hurricane Michael neared the Florida Panhandle early Oct. 10 as what the National Hurricane Center termed an “extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane” that could present “a life-threatening event for the northeastern portion of the Gulf Coast.”
Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in more than 30 counties, and Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency in more than 90 counties.
Still serving in North Carolina and West Texas
Meanwhile, TBM disaster relief volunteers continued a long-term response to Hurricane Florence, working in the area around Bayboro, N.C. Through Oct. 9, TBM workers donated more than 8,700 volunteer hours, cooking more than 2,600 meals, completing about 60 chainsaw jobs to remove fallen trees from homes, and logged about 150 hours operating heavy equipment.
In the ongoing mission, they have provided access to more than 900 hours and washed 400 loads of laundry, as well as putting tarps on roofs, tearing damaged sheetrock from flooded homes and treating surfaces to mitigate mold.
In the process, they made more than 1,200 personal contacts and distributed 112 Bibles.
In Sonora, a one-hour drive south of San Angelo, TBM workers had donated more than 4,850 volunteer hours through Oct. 9.
Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays
They have provided access to about 570 showers and washed about 350 loads of laundry. So far, they have prepared more than 9,800 meals and removed damaged drywall and sanitized surfaces in about 40 flooded homes.
They also distributed about 100 Bibles and recorded 21 professions of faith in Christ.
To contribute financially to TBM disaster relief, send a check designated “disaster relief” to Texas Baptist Men, 5351 Catron, Dallas, TX 75227, call (214) 275-1116 or click here.
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.