As they served, mud-out volunteers saw hope returning to the faces of residents of Buckhannon, West Virginia. The work was hard, hot, and dirty, but the volunteers served willingly and cheerfully, giving encouragement and a gospel witness as they cleaned out flooded living spaces and treated to prevent mold growth.

The two-week West Virginia flood response was brief when compared to the average response of four to six weeks. But during those two weeks, 64 homeowners received help from mud-out units from 4 states.

South Carolina Disaster Relief was asked by West Virginia DR leaders to run a command post site in Buckhannon. SCDR provided an Incident Management team. The Shower/Laundry unit from Waccamaw Baptist Association, manned by volunteers from the upstate, served the volunteers at the site. West Virginia provided a feeding team to cook for the volunteers.

During the first week, the mud-out unit from Round Hill Baptist Church, Lexington, SC served, along with a West Virginia unit. In the second week, SC units from Kershaw Baptist Association and Laurens Baptist Association were joined at the site by two Virginia units and one from Maryland/Delaware.

One day a local resident stopped in at the command post office to ask where she could get diapers for a needy neighbor. As she told of helping those around her who were affected by the flood, tears began to flow. She had been going non-stop, the needs were still so great, and she was just overwhelmed. The incident management volunteers in the office gave her listening ears, hugs, encouragement, and information on available resources. Then they prayed with her and assured her of God’s presence and love.

Similar encounters occurred daily in the homes where teams were working and in the command post. We are grateful to God for all the volunteers who met physical, emotional and spiritual needs as they served in West Virginia. Although no salvations were reported, the gospel was presented to numerous people, and we trust that those seeds will grow!