Southern Baptist disaster relief announced Nov. 4 that volunteers have prepared a record 11.1 million meals since Hurricane Katrina made landfall in late August. The meal count shatters the previous record of 3.5 million meals set in 2004.
And Alabama Baptists are in the thick of the activity, continuing to serve in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida, according to Tommy Puckett, Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM) director of disaster relief.
Within the first week after Alabama Baptist disaster relief teams began serving in Clewiston, Fla., following Hurricane Wilma, more than 65,000 meals were served.
An average of 24 Alabama volunteers were serving on-site each day, according to Vernon Lee, who was in charge of the Alabama state feeding unit Oct. 29–Nov. 3 and is a member of White Springs Baptist Church, Rainbow City. The unit closed operations Nov. 5.
Other Alabama volunteers are stationed in other areas in Florida, Puckett said.
In one of the most active hurricane seasons in U.S. history, more than 9,000 Southern Baptist volunteers from 41 state conventions have been deployed following hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.
“The milestone of more than 10 million prepared meals in the recent response to hurricanes exceeds the expectation of most any national, state or associational leader within Southern Baptist disaster relief,” said Jim Burton, coordinator of Southern Baptist disaster relief.
“To go from ‘buddy burners’ in 1967 in the response to Hurricane Beulah to massive tractor-trailer and other feeding units today reflects the commitment across the Southern Baptist Convention to meet the needs of disaster victims.”
It was announced Nov. 1 that monetary donations to the North America Mission Board for disaster relief also have surpassed all previous records.
Donations received so far top $18 million, with much of the money already sent to areas devastated by the hurricanes to minister to needs of individuals and Southern Baptist churches.
Rick Lance, SBOM executive director, also announced that at press time, the state board had received $2.38 million in designated gifts for disaster relief.
Of this amount, approximately $2.1 million has already been spent and allocated.
Currently 365 Southern Baptist disaster relief units are engaged in preparing meals and in cleanup and recovery efforts in Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas in areas affected by hurricane devastation.
Volunteer days donated since August total 127,771 and 14,639 jobs have been completed by volunteers.
(BP)
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