TBM team to coordinate multi-state disaster response in Louisiana

image_pdfimage_print

A Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief advance team left Dallas on Friday morning, Aug. 31, to help coordinate a multi-state Baptist response to Hurricane Isaac.

Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief volunteers gather for prayer before sending an initial team to Louisiana to serve with the incident management team in Covington, La., after Hurricane Isaac. (PHOTO/Ken Camp)

A four-member team will serve with the incident management team at First Baptist Church in Covington, La. Originally, the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief command center was due to set up in Hammond, La., but that area had to be evacuated due to flooding.

At the request of Gibbie McMillam, Louisiana Baptist state disaster relief director, TBM State Disaster Relief Director Terry Henderson will coordinate Baptist disaster relief responders from Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.

Joe Henard from Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo will serve as logistics and safety officer at the incident command center in Covington. Ralph Rogers, also from Paramount Baptist in Amarillo, will work as operations officer, and Cindy Wesch from Hillcrest Baptist Church in Midlothian will serve as administrative officer.

Jim Pinkston of Edgewood operates a forklift, helping Texas Baptist Men prepare for disaster relief in the wake of Hurricane Isaac. (PHOTO/Ken Camp)

Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief workers already were on the scene, and volunteers from other states were en route to Covington. Southern Baptists were expected to provide 100,000 meals for delivery by American Red Cross and the Salvation Army at noon on Friday.

Another TBM volunteer, Ray Gann from Whitesboro, left Dallas for Baton Rouge, La., to work as a liaison between American Red Cross, field kitchens and grocery providers.

Mud-out and chainsaw crews from Union Baptist Association were slated to leave on Saturday morning for Covington.


Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays


About 100 trained volunteers remained on standby to respond as needed with the state emergency food-service mobile unit—an 18-wheeler specially equipped with a self-contained field kitchen—water purification units and other regional disaster relief vehicles.

Meanwhile, other TBM volunteers prepared a container bound for Haiti, as part of the group's ongoing response to needs that emerged after an earthquake there more than two years ago.

Gary Smith (left), chairman of the Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief committee, consults with Terry Henderson, state director of disaster relief for TBM at the off-site command center in east Dallas. (PHOTO/Ken Camp)

The shipment includes receiving blankets for the maternity ward at a hospital, mattresses for hospitals and prisons, and assorted clothing, shoes and canned food to meet a variety of needs.

A sizeable portion of the container will be filled with lumber and construction equipment. TBM is helping to train Haitians in building trades as they construct cottages for orphans in Fond des Negres. Construction on the first three cottages is due to begin in October, said Ernie Rice, project coordinator from First Baptist Church in Stockdale.

TBM disaster relief efforts are financed entirely by designated gifts. To give directly to TBM, visit www.texasbaptistmen.org or mail a check to Texas Baptist Men, 5351 Catron, Dallas, 75227.


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.

More from Baptist Standard