As Alabama Baptists survey the damage from storms that hit the state May 7, they are also looking outside the state to help others.
Tommy Puckett, director of disaster relief for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said his office was working to organize teams to help with efforts in Jasper, Tenn. As of May 9, he hoped to have teams in place by May 12 to help with cleanup efforts from flooding in the area.
Other Baptist teams are also being deployed.
In Liberty, Mo., William Jewell College suffered extensive damage from tornadoes May 4.
“Very preliminary” figures released May 5 estimated damage to the Baptist school at $15 million to $20 million. Despite heavy property loss, no one was injured.
William Jewell lost the steeple from Gano Chapel, which had been added less than two years ago. Tilburg said dorms, classrooms, the library and student center were also damaged.
The college community responded quickly to the school’s need. “This morning [May 5] students and faculty had on their work gloves and had started cleanup,” said Mark Van Tilburg, the college’s executive director of college relations.
The Missouri Baptist Convention responded as well by sending a chain saw team.
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City escaped damage, according to a statement released May 5.
Central Baptist Theological Seminary in nearby Kansas City, Kan., also escaped major damage from the storms, according to president Tom Clifton.
Early reports from the Kansas City, Springfield and Camden County areas of Missouri confirmed at least one church was completely destroyed by the storms. Buffalo Prairie Baptist Church in Lamine Baptist Association has been declared a total loss, with most of the roof gone and structural damage to several walls.
First Baptist Church, Pierce City, was damaged, and the city’s historic downtown was almost a total loss. A chain saw team from the Missouri Baptist Convention was dispatched to the area, and a quick-response van based at First Baptist Church in Houston, Mo., was delivering water and snacks.
Terry Lamberth, director of missions for Clay-Platte Baptist Association, said the Riverside, Gladstone and Liberty areas were hardest hit in the Kansas City region.
In Tennessee, the city of Jackson was among the hardest hit. However, Union University President David Dockery said the campus escaped with only moderate damage and no reported injuries.
Helping out neighbors
The University offered help to The Jackson Sun after the newspaper’s downtown offices sustained damage. The school allowed Sun employees to set up in Union’s administration building in order to construct daily editions.
A May 5 editorial in the Sun said, “We thank our friends at Union for their generosity and help.”
At least two Tennessee Baptist churches reported damage. Tennessee Baptist disaster-relief units were activated May 5.
At West Jackson Baptist Church in Jackson, Tenn., relief teams were preparing about 1,000 meals per day. Local merchants were donating blankets and pillows, and the church’s own disaster relief team was assisting the Red Cross. Two other Tennessee Baptist feeding units were on standby.
Chain saw teams were also working near Clarksville, Lexington and Dyersburg and were assessing needs near Franklin and Fayetteville, Tenn.
Oak Hill Baptist Church in Fayetteville, near the Alabama border, was nearly destroyed by a tornado, and the church parsonage was also heavily damaged. Local crews assisted with the cleanup.
The following is a state-by-state breakdown of Baptist relief efforts:
ZIllinois: A Southern Baptist disaster relief team from Illinois was scheduled to leave for Camdenton, Mo., to help with cleanup there, but the team canceled the trip because of tornadoes that moved through their home area. As of early May 7, assessment crews were working to determine the amount of help needed in hard-hit towns like Grand Chain, Joppa and Golconda.
ZArkansas: The Arkansas Baptist State Convention dispatched five chain saw teams to Antioch, Ark., about 30 miles northeast of Little Rock, where 100 to 130 homes were estimated to be damaged by a tornado. A Red Cross unit was set up at Union Valley Baptist Church in Antioch. Another chain saw team was traveling to First Baptist Church, Mount Vernon, in southwest Missouri.
ZKansas: Baptist disaster relief workers from the Kansas-Nebraska Southern Baptist Convention were cooperating with the Red Cross to deliver meals to other workers and people displaced by the storms. Volunteers were on the scene in Pittsburg, Kan., setting up a mass-feeding effort to a three-county area.
Other feeding units from Kansas City, Kan., and Nebraska were waiting to be assigned. (Compiled from wire reports)
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