UPDATE ON HARVEY
HURRICANE HARVEY RESPONSE UPDATE
October 17, 2017
Diana’s home in N.W. Houston had flooded from Hurricane Harvey. Diana shared how first responders arrived in a boat to rescue her family from the rising water. A local church came after the flood waters receded and helped her family take everything out from the first floor. All of her family’s furniture and personal belongings that were destroyed by the flood water are piled up outside on the curb in front of her home. The church members help cut out the walls and insulation so the mold would not grow. Diana’s family is currently living in a hotel until they can get their house rebuilt. Because they were not in a floodplain, they did not purchase flood insurance. This story is similar to many families whose homes are in Houston.
Diana’s account, along with many other stories is what Darrell McCain, Hawaii Pacific Baptist Disaster Relief Director encountered while deployed to the Harvey Disaster response in Houston, Texas. Darrell McCain and Jason McGuire from Kihei Baptist Chapel went on September 18 to help the people of Houston. Jason, a Southern Baptist Disaster Relief trained volunteer, went out with mud-out teams on most days but also participated in mass feeding one day, helping to serve about four thousand meals.
Darrell and Jason and the rest of their mud-out team met Diana at her house when she had asked Southern Baptist Disaster Relief to finish taking out the remaining cabinets, the tile around the shower, to power wash the floors and to spray a mold killer (shockwave). This team was able to finish getting her house ready so they can start rebuilding.
Diana was so pleased that Southern Baptists would come and do this for her family. Diana allowed the team to pray for her and her family, believing that God is there for her. Diana was so thankful for SBDR and the volunteers who came all the way from Hawaii to help her.
Two more SBDR volunteers from Pukalani Baptist Church, three church volunteers that included Pastor Randy Pauley from Kahului Baptist Church, have deployed to Houston. Maui churches have left to Houston to bring Help, Hope, and Healing to the people of Houston. In November, a team from Guam will deploy to Houston to help the people of Houston.
If you would like to be the hands and feet of Jesus in Houston, please contact Darrell McCain in the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention, and he will get you connected to volunteer there.
Texas Baptist Men and Southern Baptist Convention of Texas have coordinated much of the immediate response with help from NAMB DR.
Florida Baptist Convention and the Eastern states are supporting Florida.
NAMB DR and SEND Relief have experienced SBDR teams on the ground in Puerto Rico and will soon have a national callout to help in Puerto Rico and VI.
California Fires is still an active disaster, and we are on standby for response in California.
Las Vegas SBDR activated local Chaplains to minister to victims families and have currently stood down.
Here are some ways to give offerings:
Churches collect the offering and send one check to HPBC, and we will send directly to NAMB Disaster Relief with other churches’ offerings.
If you want to support the survivors, write in the memo on your check “Hurricane Harvey” for NAMB DR Survivor Support.
If you would like to help our SBDR teams with air travel, write in the memo on your check “Harvey Travel.”
Individuals can give online directly to https://www.namb.net for SEND Relief NAMB DR/Harvey, http://sbtexas.com for Southern Baptist Texas Convention DR/Harvey and http://texasbaptistmen.org/ for Texas Baptist Men DR/Harvey.
Consider going as a church group or SBDR team or a combination of both. We will need trained and untrained volunteers from our churches to respond from now until we have helped all those who need it. It is time to show the love of Christ to the people of Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Train in SBDR ministry and mud-out recovery.
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Southern Baptist Disaster Relief has been activated and is monitoring the situation. Texas Baptist Men, Southern Baptist Texas Convention and North American Mission Board are actively working to be ready for the response. Large mass feeding units from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and other State Convention are prepping the mobile kitchens and are in holding areas ready to go when the go signal is given. Texas government (County Judges are telling SBDR, TBM, SBTC and other organizations to not enter yet) as the roads are not passable and first responders will continue rescuing people.
Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention Disaster Relief will activate as soon as NAMB DR and Texas Convention’s set up lodging for teams to come and work. I will need trained volunteers initially and at some point church volunteer teams will be needed. Please pray for the survivors, first responders and DR volunteers as this is a huge disaster, possibly larger than Katrina.
This is the time to support our Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, NAMB Disaster Relief with monetary support.
Churches can send a check to HPBC and we will send the money to NAMB Disaster Relief and those moneys will go directly to support Survivors with resources. Helping our HPBC DR volunteers with travel costs so we can send teams to work with feeding teams or repair homes can be another way to help with your offerings.
Mark your check:
“Hurricane Harvey” for NAMB DR support.
“Harvey Travel “ for HPBC teams.
More Information will be coming as soon as I get an update from NAMB DR and Texas. This will be a long response of months to years. Please be patient but start thinking of periods of time you could possibly respond and begin making plans for it.