SBTC DR volunteers also supported the San Jacinto County Shelter, providing 997 showers and doing 236 loads of laundry until May 24.
Chainsaw and recovery teams from First Baptist Bellville responded to needs in their community, northwest of Houston, by completing 27 jobs, logging 18 heavy equipment hours, and contributing 240 volunteer hours.
SBTC DR equipment and teams additionally set up headquarters at Central Baptist Church in Livingston on May 12. Since then, more than 746 meals have been served, 268 showers provided, 92 loads of laundry done, and 56 home cleanup requests completed with 10 more pending. SBTC DR teams alone have clocked 3,820 volunteer hours at Livingston in a deployment which also involved Baptist DR teams from Oklahoma and Florida.
At the American Red Cross shelter set up at Cleveland ISD’s Pine Burr Elementary school, SBTC DR teams from the Top O’ Texas Association continue to staff a shower and laundry unit as they have since May 16.
“Pine Burr houses the largest Red Cross shelter at the moment,” Stice said. “Our volunteers have done a phenomenal job here as elsewhere … [with ] lots of ministry, lots of gospel conversations, lots of encouraging folks.”
Also in Cleveland, SBTC DR and other state Baptist volunteers based at Calvary Baptist Church began cleanup operations which were suspended on May 25 till floodwaters recede.
At Huntsville, an SBTC Quick Response Unit and volunteers supported the shelter established at the H.E.A.R.T.S. Veterans Museum of Texas until May 6, while at Liberty County, an SBTC DR shower and laundry unit supported survivors from May 7-13.
Cleanup operations based at Coldspring in San Jacinto County, staffed by Baptist DR teams from Arizona and New Mexico, also took place, with operations closing on May 25.
Meanwhile, in Hardin County, SBTC DR teams served 30 volunteer hours, cleaning out three damaged homes.
“It has been a very busy spring,” Stice said, expressing thanks not only for SBTC DR volunteers who give so much but also for the out-of-state teams who came to help Texas survivors.
“We appreciate the prayer and financial support of SBTC churches through the Cooperative Program and Reach Texas giving,” Stice added.
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This story first appeared in the Southern Baptist Texan.