By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector
Home of the pastor of Still Waters Baptist Church in Hammond, LA. Photo: Lonnie Tucker
MOUNT JULIET — Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief shower trailers and flood recovery teams were mobilized by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention to respond to recent flooding in Louisiana Aug. 17.
Wes Jones, director of Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief, said a shower trailer and volunteers from Hermitage Hills Baptist Church, Hermitage, left Aug. 18 and one from Holston Baptist Association, based in Johnson City, will leave Aug. 22.
TBDR works in cooperation with the North American Mission Board and the other 42 state conventions.
Reports are that 10,000 people in Louisiana are displaced from their homes in shelters, 40,000-plus homes have been affected, 11 people are dead, and over 20,000 people have been evacuated or rescued in some form, he said. NAMB reports that 40 Southern Baptist Convention church facilities have been flooded.
Flood recovery units with equipment, assessors and chaplain units are needed, said Jones. NAMB’s Disaster Operation Center has determined locations to house 600 volunteers from various states.
“Many Volunteers can expect to do the mud out part of flood recovery until some time in October,” he explained.
“DR volunteers need to go through us so we can arrange housing through NAMB and so they will be assigned to an area.”
He added that if people are willing to serve but are not DR trained, they might be considered if they are willing to work alongside and under the supervision of trained personnel.
DR training is available Aug. 27 in Clarksville and Sept. 9-10 at First Baptist Church, Cleveland. For more information, go to www.tndisasterrelief.org.
To volunteer in Louisiana, contact Jones at wjones@tnbaptist.org, 615-371-7927 or 712-253-4408.
A fund to support TBDR has been set up and gifts can be given at tndisasterrelief.org to 2016 Louisiana Flooding Fund or by check made payable to the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Send the check to TN Baptist Disaster Relief, PO Box 728, Brentwood, TN 37024. Write on your check the nature of your designation. Any checks received that do not have a designation will be used for general disaster relief.