April 18, 2024
Pat McCoy, right, a member of South Berkley Baptist Church in Berkley Springs, WV, and Raymond Bouchoc, a member of Baker Heights Baptist Church in Charlestown WN, mark and remove wet drywall in Rupert County as part of mud-out recovery. VAN PAYNE/NAMBDULUTH — Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief joined cleanup in West Virginia Monday after flooding killed 23 people and destroyed over 1,000 homes.
Three teams will stagger five-day deployments, said Stuart Lang, state missionary in Community Missions and Disaster Response for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. Those teams of chaplains and cleanup-and-recovery volunteers will consist of members from Unit 30R-Hartwell and 7R-Tugalo Association. Lang also serves as state director for Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief.
Team 1 left Monday morning with Team 2 slated to leave tomorrow, July 14. In addition, Team 3 leaves July 17, said Lang. The five-day deployments include two days of travel and three work days. Teams will be joining others from North Carolina Disaster Relief at Restoration Fellowship, a Southern Baptist congregation in Mt. Nebo, WV.
In addition to the West Virginia flood, Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief continues its response to historic flooding in South Carolina. In ongoing efforts, heavy rains there last fall created the need for an extended Disaster Relief response.
West Virginia faced torrential rains beginning June 23. Soon, those grew into flooding the Federal Emergency Management Agency deemed "historic." Federal funding will help rebuild communities, but before that Southern Baptist Disaster Relief had initiated cleanup efforts. Consequently, by June 25 SBDR units were already in place.
As of July 10 SBDR had recorded 3,395 volunteer days and 110,465 meals prepared by three feeding kitchens. In addition chaplaincy contacts reported 2,525 contacts with 13 professions of faith. Also, 53 jobs had been completed out of 337 job assessments, 1,587 showers provided, and 446 loads of laundry washed.
