Disaster Response with Brandon Pickett & Mark Gauthier
Hurricane Matthew left behind significant damage up and down the East coast. The SBC of Virginia Disaster Relief team was asked to respond immediately in South Carolina with a chainsaw team. Please pray for this team as they will be self supporting meaning they’ll probably sleep in a church without power and have access to their own food brought from home. Volunteers will conduct assessments of the hurricane damages.
Disaster Relief Volunteer Testimony
A Navy family of five had 12″ water in their house because of Hurricane Matthew. My husband and I assisted them with tearing out flooring, drywall, and insulation, and I applied Shockwave to the exposed walls as mold control. The family is unchurched, but recognized my work as motivated by my Christian faith as an expression of God’s love. The wife of the home is due any day with their fourth child. It was not good for her to be in the house with mold potentially growing. Since I was available to assist them, we got the house cleaned within one week of the flooding incident. They were all very appreciative and suggested that if I needed assistance helping another neighbor, to let him know so he could help.
Disaster Relief volunteers are on alert to send the large feeding unit to North Carolina for needs there. An estimated 20 volunteers could be needed for 7-10 days. The SBC of Virginia is also on alert for flood recovery teams to serve in both North and South Carolina. Once flood waters have receded, better plans will be in place to respond.
Many of you will be asking what can we do or send to support this disaster. Of course prayer is the number one thing you can do. Please continue to pray for those affected and for those who will be responding. Also consider collecting gift cards that can be sent to the affected area and then distributed by the local church. This allows those affected to select exactly what they need and have the dignity of purchasing these items. Remember, they have lost much or all…along with the control of making decisions and the dignity that goes with it. In Kind donations can (and generally are) a burden on the receiving church as they have to warehouse, sort and then distribute the material. Then there are ALWAYS a lot of items left that the church has to deal with.
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Thank you for taking the time to pray and give, to donate to this effort, please click below.
While Hurricane Matthew tormented Haiti, SBC of Virginia church volunteers were there serving people. Here is their powerful story.
We have come to the end of another great Rebuild Haiti Missions trip to Canaan, Port au Prince, Haiti. All Virginia team members Sam Powell, Gary Cox, Ron McRae, Steve Spencer, Felix Pena and Aubrey Ralph have made it home safely. Pastor Ralph Hardowar and his daughter, Sarah arrived in Guyana, South America very late on Monday night after spending Sunday night in Miami.
We are all so grateful to God for His mercy and protection from Hurricane Matthew while in Port au Prince, Haiti. At the same time we are saddened by the loss of more than 1,000 lives in Haiti’s Southwest and Northwest coastal areas. 5 days after the hurricane, our translators, Edras and Antonio are still unable to reach their mothers who live in one of the worst affected areas. They have received reports that both ladies have survived the storm which destroyed 80% of the homes in their town. Please join us in prayers for these young men as they go in search for their mothers and missing relatives.
With your prayer, encouragement and support, not even a hurricane could have stop God from accomplishing all that he wanted to do through us for His glory:
− More than 1,000 meals cooked and served
− 300 children encouraged to know and walk with Christ through the ongoing crisis that is life in a displaced peoples’ camp
− 30 young ladies received a challenge from 20 years old, Sarah to view their worth through the eyes of Christ and therefore attach great value to their bodies, minds and spirit
− The children had a delightful time creating their own ‘yarn art’ and or origami master pieces
− Each child received their very own gift bag – this was the 1st personal possession for many
− The building expanded to accommodate 150 more people at worship and 60 more children in school
− Hundreds, if not thousands, of hugs and kisses given and received
We ended each day in Haiti by answering the question, ‘How did you see God today?’ I wish you could have been with us in those sessions to hear the testimonies of how our lives were being impacted by the presence of God, in us, through us, in spite of us, and in the lives of the kids, youth, and our Haitian brothers and sisters.
Thank you for enabling us to reassure our brothers and sisters in Haiti of your love, support, and prayers. That has touched lives and brought incredible joy to hundreds of hurting Haitians. Thank you for being the hands and feet of Jesus to our hurting brothers and sisters in Haiti.
Sincerely,
Aubrey B Ralph
SBC of Virginia Rebuild Haiti Coordinator
