IBDR team members (L-R) Jill Winthrop, Paula Ramage, Arnold Ramage, and Keith Fosse arrived in North Carolina on October 20.
Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief teams have been deployed to hard hit North Carolina to serve victims of Hurricane Helene over the next few weeks. Teams from Kaskaskia and Williamson Baptist Associations arrived on Oct. 20 and 21 and will serve as incident command, assessors, and chaplains. Additional teams from Kaskaskia and Macoupin Baptist Associations will relieve them next week.
IBDR State Coordinator Arnold Ramage, who is serving as incident command this week, shared, “We will be working in Madison County for the next two weeks. North Carolina [disaster relief known as Baptists on Mission] will be supplying the recovery teams.” Madison Country is located northwest of Asheville on the Tennessee state line.
“Since arrival [we’ve been] organizing and entering jobs into our system,” said Arnold. “The job count is currently 120 with 50 jobs chainsaw and flood recovery completed.”
Keith Fosse and Jill Winthrop at work in Incident Command at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Weaverville, N.C.
The teams are based out of Locust Grove Baptist Church in Weaverville, just 10 miles from Asheville, in Buncombe County. Electricity has been restored to the church and Baptists on Mission are providing their meals plus a shower/laundry trailer.
In an email, Ramage reported what the team saw on their drive into the area. “We just made a trip through some of devastation,” he wrote. “A stream had become a mile wide. Total destruction roads, bridges all gone.”
While much of the work IBDR has been doing to serve Hurricane Helene survivors in Augusta, Ga., has involved chainsaw recovery, much of work where they are serving in North Carolina involves flood recovery efforts. Ramage’s responsibilities will include accepting job requests along with scheduling and assigning jobs. The IBDR assessors will conduct damage assessments to help with coordinating teams, while the chaplains will minister to both survivors and disaster volunteers.
Help still needed in Augusta
IBDR volunteers are still needed to serve in Augusta. “Chainsaw teams, assessors, and shower/laundry volunteers are particularly needed,” said Ramage. “We have 800 job requests and 80 have been completed.”
IBDR volunteers survey a downed tree that pierced the ceiling of a home in Augusta, Ga.
It’s not been a quick or a simple task for chainsaw teams to remove downed trees. Joe Jackson, served with a chainsaw team from Saline Baptist Association in Augusta earlier this month, A 10-year-veteran of IBDR, he described the tree damage as “the worst I’ve seen. … I’ve never this many trees on houses and through houses as I’ve seen in this community…”
He said the amount of fallen trees has made the work slow. “We had to cut a path into where the bad stuff was [at this house],” according to Jackson. “There are pine trees that are 100 ft. tall that have been uprooted. When one falls onto another tree, you’ve got to get that one out of the way too.”
Ramage said many of the fallen trees are Pecan, which is a harder wood that takes longer to cut through.
Illinois volunteers in Augusta are working with Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers from Georgia, Kansas/Nebraska, Missouri, and Michigan/Wisconsin conventions. Teams are expected to be needed at least through Thanksgiving.
An IBDR chaplain prays with a homeowner in Augusta, Ga.
If you are interested in serving in Augusta, contact Ramage via email or by phone at (618) 889-1938. To become a trained Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief volunteer, go to IBSA.org/dr where you can take the Disaster Relief 101 training. IBDR has nearly 500 trained volunteers who serve on chainsaw and flood recovery teams, with shower, laundry, and food service, and at every callout, as chaplains.
Ramage asked Illinois Baptists to continue to pray the hurricane survivors and for the disaster relief volunteers. “Pray for safe travel and for safety and the job,” he said.
How you can help
IBDR is a partner with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR), 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. Send Relief is currently supporting 40 SBDR Hurricane Helene recovery sites deployed in six southeastern states – Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. As of Oct. 21, Send Relief reported volunteers have provided 797,518 meals, given 172,959 volunteer hours, completed 2,257 job requests, and seen 185 professions of faith. In response to Hurricane Milton, there have been 7 professions of faith, 145,755 meals provided, 30,863 volunteer hours given, and 236 job requests completed.
An IBDR volunteer stands next to the rootball of tree uprooted by Hurricane Helene.
While the Cooperative Program supports the administrative costs of disaster relief, volunteers travel and serve at their own expense. To donate to help Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief assist survivors of Hurricane Helene, visit IBSA.org/about/donate. Checks may be made payable to Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief and sent to IBSA, 3085 Stevenson Drive, Springfield, IL 62703.
For more information about Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief, visit IBSA.org/dr. IBDR is a volunteer organization ministering with the Illinois Baptist State Association.