No thirsty person went without water, and no water went to waste, according to Tim Bridges, pastor of First Baptist Church, Clewiston, Fla.
This fact is despite Clewiston-area media reports that claimed differently when a shipment of water, distributed by Anheuser-Busch, caused confusion Oct. 28. This fact also remains in spite of the growing number of Web bloggers distributing inaccurate information following the news reports.
Keith Hinson, public relations associate for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said, “It is an absolute falsehood to suggest — as many irresponsible bloggers have — that the Baptist volunteers withheld the basic needs of life from Floridians impacted by the hurricane. Contrary to misinterpretations of news reports, no one was denied access to water.”
Alabama Baptist disaster relief volunteers set up a feeding unit in Clewiston, Fla., Oct. 26 following Hurricane Wilma’s swipe across Florida Oct. 24. From the site, meals are cooked and distributed in the community by the Red Cross or through feeding lines on-site.
Bottles of water are not necessarily a guarantee at these sites, said
Vernon Lee, who was in charge of the feeding unit Oct. 29–Nov. 3. “We don’t hand out commodities like ice, water, etc.,” said Lee, a member of White Springs Baptist Church, Rainbow City, in Etowah Baptist Association. “We just cook.”
But if water is available, then the volunteers give it out, he noted.
When the Anheuser-Busch truck arrived, the Red Cross officials allowed the water to be unloaded even though the area was not designated as a distribution site, Lee explained.
Volunteers cooking and handing out food were a mixture of Alabama Baptists; members of First, Clewiston; and Red Cross volunteers.
The Anheuser-Busch logo on the cans of water bothered the First, Clewiston, volunteers, Bridges said. “I didn’t want to send out a mixed message.”
“All that was said was that First Baptist Church (Clewiston) people would not be the ones handing it out,” he explained. “We didn’t refuse the water. Others were giving it out. We were handing out water (supplied by Southern Baptists) hand over fist.”
Alabama Baptists experienced a similiar situation in Flomaton after Hurricane Dennis. An Anheuser-Busch truck parked in front of Little Escambia Baptist Church, Flomaton, in Escambia Baptist Association and wanted to distribute water from there, Escambia disaster relief workers said. This group also had plenty of water on hand, so the canned water from the beer company was not needed.
Church officials would not grant permission for the truck to unload the water, so the driver unloaded at another site, the workers said.
Lee said he has seen the canned water in numerous disaster relief settings.
“I would have no problem giving the people the (Anheuser-Busch water) if they were thirsty but they were not thirsty,” he said of the Clewiston, Fla., incident.
In fact, he said the original supply of water (including the Anheuser-Busch water) lasted until early Nov. 2. “There was water for them to take … and the opportunity to get (the Anheuser-Busch) water if they wanted it because it was made available,” Lee said, noting he thinks most people prefer bottled water to canned water anyway.
Both Lee and Bridges emphasized that no one went without water and it is unfortunate that the local media misunderstood the facts.
“We are preparing upwards of 12,000 meals a day,” Lee said. “The city is tickled to death to have us here. We have received cards and letters from people, who come through the line, thanking us.
“It is sad for us to take a black eye over something that was silly,” he said. “But if the First Baptist Church (Clewiston) and the people in this town are happy, then we’ve done our job.”
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