October 8, 2024
SUWANEE, Ga. — Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief continues to meet the physical and spiritual needs of people impacted by Hurricane Helene’s destructive path across Georgia. As of Friday morning, GBDR director Dwain Carter reported that more than 134,000 meals had been prepared by volunteers, including those from other states supporting the response.
Teams from Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Missouri are working alongside their Georgia counterparts to bring help, hope and healing to those in need.
The Georgia Baptist Mission Board is also continuing to reach out to churches and pastors in the affected area to assess the storm’s impact on their ministry. By Monday, nearly 1,000 churches and associational missionary strategists had been contacted. From those contacts, the GBMB has identified 103 churches and 70 pastors, church staff, and/or AMSs that were impacted by Helene to some extent.
In addition, the GBMB is working on an initiative to pair churches in unaffected areas with those that have been impacted Helene. Churches wishing to be matched with a church in need can express their interest by clicking here.
Disaster Relief volunteers are not the only ones who are doing what they can. John Pearce, an incident commander from Arkansas, says that volunteers try to support local businesses whenever possible. He recounted that one crew was checking out at a local market with more than $500 worth of groceries, when the lady behind them offered to pay.
Volunteers working in the affected area are making a spiritual impact as well. As of Friday, there had been 166 gospel presentations with eight people professing faith in Christ.
In Valdosta, a chaplain with Arkansas Baptist Disaster Relief told how volunteers helping to remove a tree from one couple’s home asked them simply, “If you died today, do you know where you would go?” The couple expressed an interest in learning more, and volunteers shared the gospel with them, which led to their placing their faith in Jesus.
Jeffrey Morgan of Nicholls, Ga., told how his wife, daughter and two grandchildren, along with several other people from the town, had sought refuge from Helene in an old school gymnasium. When the storm hit, the roof was ripped from the building, throwing debris far and wide and destroying several vehicles parked nearby. Miraculously, no one inside the building was injured. “We hadn’t been going to church regularly,” he said, “But we’re going to start. My wife told me there was only one thing that saved them inside that building. ‘It was the hand of God,’ she said.”
The work is not without its dangers. One volunteer from Arkansas was injured while removing a tree from a house. Despite this, he was able to maintain his focus on sharing the gospel. As he was being wheeled into the emergency room, he took a nurse’s hand and asked her, “Do you know Jesus?”
Pearce said a friend once asked him why he volunteered with Disaster Relief. “You have to see all this destruction and pain,” the friend asked, “Why do you keep doing it?” Pearce replied, simply, “I get to see God at work.” He continued, “I could choose to live an isolated life, and avoid seeing the pain in others, but I would miss out on that.”
