State Disaster Relief Coordinator Arnold Ramage took this photo of what he said is “one of three 100 feet in diameter piles of appliances” taken from flood damaged homes in the area to be crushed and recycled.
Updated July 12 | Two Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief (IBDR) teams will be arriving in Spencer, Iowa to begin a week of flood recovery work on July 14. Eight IBDR volunteers are already in northwestern Iowa working as assessors at incident command in the town of Okoboji. They are working with teams from Missouri to determine the needs in the surrounding area.
State Disaster Relief Coordinator Arnold Ramage said, “A lot of people have called in [for help]. Eighty-seven jobs have already been requested, with 56 ready for us to do the work.” The IBDR volunteers arrived on July 7.
Some are smaller jobs ranging from “needing spray disinfectant to major repair,” he said.
This spring IBDR teams have responded to callouts caused by high winds and flooding here at home and in Iowa, Missouri, and Texas. In Iowa, storms have dumped more than 18 inches of rain in some parts of the state, flooding towns, topping levees, and even causing a Sioux City railroad bridge to collapse. Gov. Kim Reynolds has declared 21 counties disaster areas.
Marshall Bourne, a member of Tabernacle Baptist in Decatur, is another of the Illinois Baptists currently onsite. Bourne has worked with Missouri Baptist volunteers at local shelters helping to share information about assistance funds available to “those who need it most.”
“There’s a lot of hurt,” he said. “We got to pray with 22 [people] who are homeless now. They’ve got no idea where they’ll be living next week, next month. Some have small kids. I only got to see some of it around the edges. It was tough.”
Disaster Relief volunteers participate in a time of worship while in Iowa to serve flood victims.
A shower trailer from Franklin Baptist Association was stationed outside a shelter in Correctionville for a few days at the end of June to serve residents left homeless by the flooding.
“There’s still a lot of work that needs to be assessed,” said Ramage. The Illinois assessors will be on site through the middle of July.
Three Missouri Baptist collegiate teams were expected the week of July 15 to assist in flood recovery efforts, but at least one team arrived a few days early and quickly got to work in flood damaged homes. Ramage said the team is made up of students and recent graduates who spend the summer serving as interns. When their work in Iowa is completed, they will move on to the Houston area will they will join the Hurricane Beryl recovery efforts.
The IBDR Flood Recovery teams will also be joined next week by teams from Georgia and additional volunteers from Missouri.
The next IBDR training will be August 23-24 at Lake Sallateeska Baptist Camp in rural Pinckeyville. To register, go to the IBSA online calendar at IBSA.org/calendar. For more information about IBDR, to complete IBDR 101 training online, renew your badge, and more, visit IBSA.org/ministries/disaster-relief/.
Hurricane Beryl response
Baptist Press reports Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) units have deployed in and around Houston up into Texarkana in response to Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall early Monday morning, July 8. Units with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC), Texans on Mission, Arkansas and Alabama are providing meals, showers and chainsaw work to survivors.
Scottie Stice, SBDR director for the SBTC, shared through email that they are continuing to discover needs through their assessments as they work “to match needs to resources” while volunteers from both inside and outside the state have already begun their efforts.
SBTC has a unit providing up to 5,000 meals and showers in Wharton, southwest of Houston, while Texans on Mission (formerly Texas Baptist Men) has a 15,000-meal-a-day feeding unit set up in Houston to prepare meals for those without electricity.
Each unit has been working with The Salvation Army to help get the meals to people in need.
About Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief
IBDR has more than 450 trained volunteers who serve on chainsaw and flood recovery teams, with shower, laundry, and food service, and at every callout, as chaplains. IBDR is a partner with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, part of the SBC’s Send Relief compassion ministry. It is the third largest disaster relief organization, after the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.
IBDR is a volunteer organization ministering with the Illinois Baptist State Association.
– Additional reporting from Baptist Press