Hurricane Charley kicked South Carolina Baptist Disaster relief workers into gear. Hurricane Frances made sure they were on their toes.
The 2004 hurricane season has been the busiest in recent years. Twenty-one SC teams cleaning up damage from Charley were pulled out of Florida with Hurricane Frances in sight to await their next assignment - this time to remedy a one-two punch most Floridians never expected.
As Frances dumped inches of rain on the soaked soil of Florida, she also unleashed her fury on South Carolina, spinning off nearly 50 tornados across the state.
The SC Baptist Convention set up a command center in their Columbia office, acting as a coordinating agency of all disaster relief units across the state.
“It’s been quite a week,” said Cliff Satterwhite, director of Disaster Relief efforts for the South Carolina Baptist Convention.
As the tornados touched down throughout the Midlands and Pee Dee areas, the Convention no longer acted as just a sending agency, but a receiving agency as well. A chainsaw relief team from Virginia en route to Florida was diverted to Clio, SC, site of some of the most substantial structural tornado damage. York, Pee Dee and Florence units assisted in the Clio clean-up as well.
Crews from the Kershaw and Moriah associations were dispensed to clean up the Cassatt and Lancaster areas hardest hit by the storm.
In addition, missions volunteers from several state conventions were deployed to three Florida cities, Jupiter, Lake Worth and West Palm Beach. Units included mobile feeding, recovery, shower, chainsaw and communication. Currently ten South Carolina units have joined 107 total Southern Baptist units from all over the country in relief efforts.
Once on site, the South Carolina Baptist Convention disaster relief volunteers partner with the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army to meet the immediate needs of the community. But Baptist volunteers are also concerned with victim’s spiritual well being as well.
“We cannot go to these sites and not share the good news of Jesus with those who are suffering. We want to pray with them and give them a sense that God cares for them and will meet their needs even in the face of chaos,” said Satterwhite.
“Disaster relief volunteers are really missions volunteers specifically trained to aid those most in need. There is no better way to show Christ’s love than meeting the needs of ones in the most desperate situations.”
All disaster relief volunteers are trained by the SC Baptist Convention in two training events offered throughout the year. The next disaster relief training is October 15 – 16, 2004 in Mt. Pleasant . Contact the Men’s Ministry Department at (803) 765-0030 for more information.
