The North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Church operates one of the largest relief organizations in the country. Some of our members have attended training to provide services in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama in the Hurricane Katrina relief operations.
Recently, on just 2 days notice, 2 of our members, Jerry and Kay Schooling were ready to give up some vacation time to help others - here is their report;
Jerry and I recently went to Biloxi, Mississippi to help out with disaster relief due to Hurricane Katrina.
We went through the KY Baptist Convention’s Disaster Relief training program and were ready to go anywhere and to do anything we were called upon to do. A week later, we were on the road to Biloxi with a “mud-out” team made up of folks from Jeffersontown Baptist Church, Farmdale Baptist, Southeast Christian, Simpsonville Baptist Church, and Jerry and I from Forest Park.
We really didn’t know what to expect when we got there. Since we were novices, we didn’t know what we would be doing other than cleaning houses. Well we found out quickly, that just about whatever the homeowner needed we would do, from chainsaw work, hauling limbs and debris, tarping roofs, tearing out drywall, paneling and insulation to power washing, and bleaching walls and floors.
We also talked, hugged, cried and prayed with the owners. I must say that we received more blessings from this experience than the homeowner did, but they would probably disagree.
I encourage anyone who would like to assist with disaster relief to contact the KY Baptist Convention’s Disaster Relief office here in Louisville, or contact Jerry or myself and we can get you the contact numbers.
There is plenty of need in the world, whether it’s in Nicaragua, Malawai, or here in the USA. Just ask God where he can send you. I definitely would like to go again, and hope you can too. It truly was a blessing.
A saying I recently read said “Work for the Lord – the retirement is out of this world!”
Check out a group photo on our Groups Page
