fbpx
×

Log into your account

We have changed software providers for our subscription database. Old login credentials will no longer work. Please click the "Register" link below to create a new account. If you do not know your new account number you can contact [email protected]
Trump ‘just settled in’ at N.C. disaster relief site
David Roach, Baptist Press
September 20, 2018
2 MIN READ TIME

Trump ‘just settled in’ at N.C. disaster relief site

Trump ‘just settled in’ at N.C. disaster relief site
David Roach, Baptist Press
September 20, 2018

President Trump spent approximately an hour Sept. 19 at a disaster relief site in New Bern, N.C., helping volunteers distribute meals and greeting victims of Hurricane Florence.

Screen capture from WRAL.com

President Trump, Pastor Jim Pennington (center) and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (left) distribute meals Sept. 19 at a Southern Baptist Disaster Relief site in New Bern, N.C.

“I was literally thinking” the president’s visit would last 15-20 minutes, said Jim Pennington, pastor of Temple Baptist Church in New Bern, the congregation hosting the site. But Trump “just settled in. He started meeting people and asking questions, looking people in the eye and saying, ‘Tell me about your house.’”

Since Florence made landfall Sept. 14, Southern Baptist volunteers have served more than 46,000 meals in North and South Carolina through the work of more than 400 volunteers. The storm dumped more than 30 inches of rain in some locations and has caused at least 37 deaths, according to media reports.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper also visited Temple along with Trump.

“As a church, as a ministry, as a relief site,” Trump’s visit was “fantastic,” Pennington told Baptist Press, because “it’s given us some high profile where we can ask people to help with resources and finances.”

Temple was among nine feeding locations in North Carolina Sept. 19, according to a report from the North American Mission Board, which helps coordinate multi-state disaster relief responses. Two feeding units were operating in South Carolina.

SendRelief, NAMB’s compassion ministry arm, has delivered other disaster relief supplies to the churches hosting feeding sites, including 65 pastor packs with generators, chainsaws and other ministry supplies. Some 720 “crisis buckets” have been distributed to help homeowners do their own cleanups.

“We’re just incredibly thankful that the president was able to experience firsthand serving meals to those in the drive-through line,” SendRelief President David Melber said, “and also to see Southern Baptist volunteers in action doing what they do best.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE – David Roach is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press. Reprinted from Baptist Press, baptistpress.com, news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.)