Texans on Mission providing relief for Beryl victims

By Ferrell Foster, Texans on Mission

HOUSTON (BP) — Texans on Mission has deployed two mass feeding units to meet needs in the shadow of the vast power outage caused by Hurricane Beryl in recent days.

The missions organization formerly known as Texas Baptist Men also has three chainsaw teams working to remove trees from homes and cars, as well as to give people access to their houses.

“The power outage is devastating for people, and the scope of this problem is hard to fathom,” said David Wells, Texans on Mission’s disaster relief director. “Because of the absence of power, it becomes very difficult for people to have adequate, healthy food.

“We’ve been asked to prepare 10,000 meals a day in the Houston area, and we are now ramping up to that level. This morning [Wednesday], our volunteers began working at 5 a.m. to serve in the name of Christ. As they cook, they’re praying over the meals, many of which are going to churches to share the gospel.”

John Hall, Texans on Mission chief mission officer, said, “We are making sure that under-resourced communities are receiving the meals we are preparing. Right now, many people are suffering. We want to make sure to minister and care for as many people as possible. We’re thankful to partner with the National Baptist Convention of America to make that happen.”

Chainsaw teams are dealing with needs described as Priority 1 — where trees have been downed on homes or cars or blocked access to homes. Priority 2 and 3 jobs will be done later.

“Three chainsaw teams in the area quickly deployed after the storm to help remove fallen trees and limbs from homes, cars and driveways,” Wells said. “These volunteers were quick on the scene, and others from throughout the state will be joining them soon because recovery from this storm is going to take a while.”

A Texans on Mission incident management team is being set up at First Baptist Church of Brazoria, along with a mobile shower and laundry unit to serve the chainsaw teams.

“God has blessed Texans on Mission with the equipment that helps our volunteers bring the love of Christ to people in need,” Wells said. “It is great to watch these men and women at work in service to others in the name of Christ.”

Two Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief (IBDR) teams will be arriving in Spencer, Iowa, to begin a week of flood recovery work on July 14. Eight IBDR volunteers are already in northwestern Iowa working as assessors at incident command in the town of Okoboji. They are working with teams from Missouri to determine the needs in the surrounding area.

This story first appeared in the Baptist Standard.

IBDR volunteers ministering to those left homeless by Iowa flooding

By Lisa Misner, Illinois Baptist

DECATUR, Ill. (BP) — State Disaster Relief Coordinator Arnold Ramage said, “A lot of people have called in [for help]. Eighty-seven jobs have already been requested, with 56 ready for us to do the work.”

Some are smaller jobs ranging from “needing spray disinfectant to major repair,” he said.

This spring Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief (IBDR) teams have responded to callouts caused by high winds and flooding here at home and in Iowa, Missouri and Texas. In Iowa, storms have dumped more than 18 inches of rain in some parts of the state, flooding towns, topping levees and even causing a Sioux City railroad bridge to collapse. Gov. Kim Reynolds has declared 21 counties disaster areas.

Marshall Bourne, a member of Tabernacle Baptist in Decatur, is another of the Illinois Baptists currently onsite. Bourne has worked with Missouri Baptist volunteers at local shelters helping to share information about assistance funds available to “those who need it most.”

“There’s a lot of hurt,” he said. “We got to pray with 22 [people] who are homeless now. They’ve got no idea where they’ll be living next week, next month. Some have small kids. I only got to see some of it around the edges. It was tough.”

A shower trailer from Franklin Baptist Association was stationed outside a shelter in Correctionville for a few days at the end of June to serve residents left homeless by the flooding.

“There’s still a lot of work that needs to be assessed,” said Ramage. The Illinois assessors will be on site through the middle of July.

The IBDR Flood Recovery teams will be joined next week by teams from Georgia and three Missouri Baptist collegiate teams.

The next IBDR training will be August 23-24 at Lake Sallateeska Baptist Camp in rural Pinckeyville. To register, go to the Illinois Baptist State Association (IBSA) online calendar at IBSA.org/calendar. For more information about IBDR, to complete IBDR 101 training online, renew your badge and more, visit IBSA.org/ministries/disaster-relief/.

Hurricane Beryl response

Baptist Press reports Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) units have deployed in and around Houston up into Texarkana in response to Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall early Monday morning, July 8. Units with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC), Texans on Mission, Arkansas and Alabama are providing meals, showers and chainsaw work to survivors.

Scottie Stice, SBDR director for the SBTC, shared through email that they are continuing to discover needs through their assessments as they work “to match needs to resources” while volunteers from both inside and outside the state have already begun their efforts.

SBTC has a unit providing up to 5,000 meals and showers in Wharton, southwest of Houston, while Texans on Mission (formerly Texas Baptist Men) has a 15,000-meal-a-day feeding unit set up in Houston to prepare meals for those without electricity.

Each unit has been working with The Salvation Army to help get the meals to people in need.

Read the full story here.

Tennessee DR teams needed in Texas, Iowa

By Lonnie Wilkey, Baptist and Reflector

MOUNT JULIET, Tenn. (BP) — Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief teams have been asked to respond in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl in Texas and to extreme flooding which occurred in Iowa in late June.

Hurricane Beryl made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane near Matagorda around 4:30 a.m. July 8, about 95 miles southwest of Houston, according to multiple news reports.

The storm pummeled coastal areas like Galveston as well as the outskirts of Houston, America’s fourth-largest metro area. Nearly three million people were left without electricity.

As of July 10, about 1.7 million people in Texas were still without power according to Reuters. The death toll in Texas climbed to at least 11.

Heavy rains surged rivers in Iowa to record-breaking levels, breaching levees and impacting thousands of home in northwest Iowa, according to Wes Jones, Tennessee Baptist disaster relief specialist.

Jones said trained chainsaw teams are needed in Texas along with trained flood recovery teams in Iowa. Both states need volunteers immediately, he added. “We want to be able to send teams to both locations.”

Jones said teams will not know complete details for either state until they confirm they will respond.

Teams are asked to include a chaplain or, if they do not have one, they can contact Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief.

“Summer is always one of the hardest times for responses due to extreme heat in many locations across the United States,” Jones observed. “But it is almost the best time to show the love of Christ to people who desperately need it after a life-changing event,” he added.

Jones asked Tennessee Baptists to pray for the people in Iowa and Texas affected by the recent disasters as well as teams that will be traveling to various locations in those states. “Pray also that those who do not know Christ will come to know Him through the efforts of our volunteers,” he added.

Teams willing to respond should contact Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief at [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected].

Donations to Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief can be made at tndisasterrelief.org/contributions. Click on either the “Hurricane” or “Floods” option.

This story first appeared here.