Bottled water a blessing when water service lost

Plenty of clean and clear bottled water was delivered to Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in Talladega following the early June water crisis in the city.

The water came thanks to Alabama Baptist disaster relief; First Baptist Church, Sylacauga; and Shocco Springs’ food supplier, Wood Fruitticher.

While a major water line break in Talladega caused water outages and unsafe water concerns throughout the city, Shocco faced a crisis of its own — 1,000 campers onsite with potentially no clean water.

All citizens were advised to boil water before consuming it until the situation is under control. But that was not a feasible option for Shocco.

“When I got word they needed water, we knew we had water to spare,” said Kyle Jeffreys, state disaster relief coordinator for feeding units and a member of Faith Baptist Church, Athens.

Jeffreys also is coordinating feeding units at Ragland High School near Pell City to feed volunteers helping with cleanup efforts following the April 27 tornadoes.

Mel Johnson, disaster relief strategist for Alabama Baptists, learned of the need and contacted Jeffreys to help with the water situation.

Jeffreys and Gordan Raney, disaster relief volunteer and member of New Market Baptist Church, delivered the first load of water  — about 500 cases — June 7.

Shocco executive director Buster Taylor said the donation of drinking water helped to serve the many guests on campus.

He added that guests have been “most understanding” about the water crisis.

“We were able to continue our ministry by providing safe drinking water to guests,” Taylor reported. First Baptist, Sylacauga, sent 65 cases of bottled water and Wood Fruitticher sent a special truck with 500 cases.

Shocco was using approximately 45 cases per meal.

“This crisis reminds us not to take anything for granted, especially essentials like water,” Taylor added.

At press time, Shocco’s current water donations were expected to last until June 13.

If needed after that date, they planned to seek donations so ministry could continue as 1,400 campers were set to check in that day.

At press time, an “all-clear” had not been issued and results from water samples were not known.
(TAB, Laura Goldman of Shocco Springs contributed to this report)