In response to killer tornadoes that slammed through several northeastern states April 28, two chainsaw units from Alabama have reported to La Plata, Md., where major devastation occurred.
One unit, led by Jerry Butler, Alabama Baptists’ coordinator of cleanup and recovery, was composed of men from Etowah and Marshall associations. The second unit, led by Mack Duck was comprised of men from Baldwin Association.
The disaster relief volunteers, who were all certified in chainsaw cleanup, left May 6 and returned May 11. Butler said the units were involved in taking down damaged trees and removing debris so residents could safely enter their homes.
“We cleaned four homes in three-and-one-half days,” Butler said. “One man had 100 trees down.”
Despite the hard work, “It was a great week,” Butler said. “(The teams) never stopped, never complained.
“And the people of the city were great to us,” he added.
“I’m very thankful and proud of them,” said Tommy Puckett, director of men’s ministry at the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM).
“They were the only two chainsaw teams working in Maryland that I know of,” he said.
Puckett also passed along a comment from Randy Creamer, coordinator of the work in Maryland.
“Creamer said the teams had done a masterful job. They acted with a sense of professionalism and a sense of a Christian presence with the people they worked with,” Puckett said.
In addition to the tornadoes, deadly floods that devastated areas of southern West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky in early May prompted activation of 10 Southern Baptist disaster relief units from six states to help with meals and the early stages of cleanup.
Some of the state units also responded to cleanup needs caused by tornadoes in Gum County, Tenn., Calhoun, Ga., North Canton, Ohio, and North Carolina.
In other ongoing responses, mobile kitchen volunteers also continue to prepare meals for recovery workers in New York City in cooperation with the Salvation Army.
Volunteers are based at “Ground Zero” in lower Manhattan and at the debris landfill in Staten Island.
Currently serving are volunteers from Tennessee, New York and California. Others from Florida, Minnesota/Wisconsin, Alabama, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Missouri are scheduled through the end of May.
More than 23,000 trained volunteers are currently part of the Southern Baptist disaster relief network nationwide. The units generally are owned and operated by state conventions and local associations and coordinated nationally by the North American Mission Board.
(BP, Erin Webster contributed)
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