Training prepares for worst (front page link)
Martha Quillin, New Observer (Raleigh, NC), 16 March 2012]
It will look like a tornado came through the parking lot at New Hope Baptist Church this afternoon and Saturday, not because there was a natural disaster but so that when there is another one, the N.C. Baptist Men’s volunteers will be ready to feed people, cut fallen trees off their houses and keep the rain from coming in.
At least 725 people signed up to go through the tow-day disaster relief training which will prepare them to help out after the next hurricane, tornado, flood or other calamity.
The article goes on to note that this is a group effort with people from all denominations welcome to help out. They have 12,000 volunteers in North Carolina alone.
Even within fictional literature, when you read between the lines, it is the isolation and despair that sets people off. Twelve-thousand helpful people would go at least some way toward alleviating that fear. People can put up with, and even deal with a lot of setbacks if they feel that someone is with them. As one person noted:
As they note at their website:
Virtually 100% of NCBM Disaster Relief is funded by donations. If you would like to support this ministry please mail a check, designated for Disaster Relief Fund, to:
North Carolina Baptist Me
P. O. Box 1107
Cary, NC 27512-1107
2 comments:
And when a disaster hits the government employees will have these guys serving soup or watching a parking lot 20 miles from the scene. But they will take the donations readily.
As I understand from some people I know who were there, after Katrina, on the MS Gulf Coast it was the Baptists and the Hippies that were the two groups that did the most to help. My understanding is that both groups do their coordinating through local governments.
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