September 7, 2024
MAYFIELD, Ky. – Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief Director Ricky Thrasher has heard the question many times: Where do you begin to help victims of an outbreak of tornadoes so violent that they wiped entire communities off the map?
“It begins with training,” Thrasher said. “We train year-round for scenarios like what we’re seeing in Kentucky. That doesn’t mean it’s not heart-wrenching. It is. But our Disaster Relief volunteers have hearts for bringing hope and healing to the hurting. Many have decades of experience coming alongside survivors of natural disasters and offering them a helping hand while showing them the love of Christ.”
More than 30 tornados ripped through Kentucky four other states over the weekend, killing at least 88 people, demolishing homes, downing power lines and leaving thousands without heat, water or electricity as temperatures dropped below freezing.
The tornadoes also killed at least six people in Illinois, four in Tennessee, two in Arkansas and two in Missouri.
Georgia, which is still rebuilding after a spat of tornadoes in March, “feels the pain” of these hard-hit states, Thrasher said.
“What we do know is that survivors really appreciate it when Southern Baptists arrive on the scene,” he said. “Our Disaster Relief volunteers show them that they are not alone, that they have the help they need to get back on their feet.”
The Georgia Baptist Convention has some 7,000 trained Disaster Relief volunteers. That’s far more than any other state convention.
Georgia Disaster Relief crews spent weeks in Louisiana earlier this year, helping hurricane victims clean up after Ida stormed ashore. In Ida’s aftermath, Georgia was asked to supply chainsaw crews to help saw trees off homes and property and chaplains to offer counseling and to share the gospel with survivors, more than 30 of whom made decisions to become Christians.
“We had large-scale loss,” said Don Turner, worship pastor at First Baptist Church of Kentwood, Louisiana. “I don’t think there was anyone here do didn’t sustain some kind of damage. When you’re standing in the middle of it, there’s only so much you can do, and, with those guys coming, it’s like knowing the Cavalry is coming. There’s no greater feeling than knowing they have arrived.”
Georgia Baptists, Thrasher said, have mobile kitchens ready always on the ready to feed victims and first responders. He said they also have mobile shower units and mobile laundromats.
“People usually realize the need for our volunteers to provide meals in scenarios like this,” Thrasher said. “But they may not think how important it is for folks on the scene to be able to shower after a hard day’s work or to wash their clothes that more likely than not are covering with muck and mud and grime.”
Thrasher said the Disaster Relief teams, all unpaid volunteers, are “truly heroes who leave their homes and families to help. They sleep on cots, typically in church fellowship halls or pull-along trailers, and work until every muscle in their bodies ache.”
But, Thrasher said, they’d have it no other way.
“They live to help people in need,” he said.
For people who are unable to respond in person in the aftermath of the tornadoes but who want to help, Thrasher said Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief is accepting financial contributions online at https://ga-baptist-convention.square.site/ or by sending checks to Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief, 6405 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth, Ga. 30097.
