Baldwin Association provides latest Alabama efforts at ground zero

Fourteen volunteers from Baldwin Association comprise the latest wave of Alabama Baptists to work at ground zero in New York. This brings to nearly 100 the number of Alabama Baptists assisting with disaster relief efforts following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The two Baldwin food preparation teams of seven people each departed Jan. 7 to begin work Jan. 8. The teams are preparing and serving food around the clock, breaking down their shifts into 12-hour increments. As one team concludes its shift, it is replaced by the other one. This schedule continues for eight days.

The team departs at the end of the day Jan. 16 and will be replaced by Southern Baptist disaster relief teams from Tennessee and Georgia.

According to Tommy Puckett, who oversees disaster relief ministries as part of his job as director of men’s ministries with the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, the food preparation teams are assisting the Salvation Army.

“The Salvation Army has a food kitchen that is open around the clock and we have been asked to provide them with volunteers who are trained in food preparation,” he said.

Expenses paid

Puckett said that the Salvation Army is paying for air travel and lodging for the teams.

The Alabama disaster relief team volunteers are trained to work with convection ovens like the ones used at the Salvation Army kitchens, Puckett noted.

“The Red Cross provides the meals and our people prepare and serve them,” Puckett said.

Baldwin Association is the third association to provide food preparation volunteers. Limestone and Madison associations sent similar teams to ground zero the last week of October.

Teams from Walker, Birmingham, Columbia, Chilton, Morgan, Elmore, Calhoun, Marshall, Etowah and Tuscaloosa associations have also assisted at ground zero since the middle of October, Puckett said, noting these volunteers served on the cleanup and logistics teams.

The teams come from any of the 12 disaster relief districts that encompass all of the 75 Baptist associations in Alabama.

“We are sending up teams through the end of January,” Puckett said. “At that time there will be an evaluation and then it will be determined if more teams need to go back.”

(TAB)