As followers of Christ, we are encouraged to “give a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name.” And that “cold water” analogy translated into a towel and bar of soap during Hurricane Gustav relief efforts the first week of September in Birmingham.
Alabama Baptists were present at evacuation shelters across the state with feeding teams, shower trailers, child-care units, chaplains and volunteers serving in needed roles.
But in Birmingham, chaplains reported it was the spontaneous act by Alabama Baptists of providing towels and soap that garnered them the most results.
“You would be surprised how important that was,” said Anthony Patterson, pastor of Gum Springs Baptist Church, Hartselle, in Morgan Baptist Association.
Patterson, who served as a chaplain at the Birmingham evacuation sites, said Alabama Baptists provided three shower trailers in the Birmingham area, but there were no towels and no soap.
C.B. Scott, pastor of Westmont Baptist Church, Birmingham, in Birmingham Baptist Association, was instrumental in addressing the problem.
“The Red Cross ran out of towels,” said Scott, who served as a chaplain at the Birmingham evacuation sites.
“People kept asking me for towels and there was no soap. I got burdened and started working on it. The Red Cross didn’t know if they would get any.”
That’s when the spontaneous cooperative effort among a random mix of Alabama Baptists made a difference.
A representative of The Alabama Baptist newspaper at the Birmingham evacuation sites covering the relief efforts had also learned of the towel and soap need just moments before interviewing Scott.
Scott and The Alabama Baptist reporter devised a plan and within two hours hundreds of towels and countless bars of soap were in Scott’s hands to distribute. And by the end of the day, “we had 1,800 towels,” he said. “Every person who needed a towel got a towel, but we were still waiting on towels from (the Red Cross and FEMA).”
Tim Turner, senior director of emergency services for the Birmingham area chapter of the American Red Cross, said towels are not normally part of the hygiene kits provided by Red Cross, but they did try to offer towels once they realized there was a need.
“The towels were something we lost control of for a little bit,” he said, noting the hygiene kits were also not available right away.
“We lost track of them when they came into town,” he said. “It took time to get those to the shelters and they don’t normally contain towels.”
So he had to order towels. Unfortunately, when Turner’s office placed the request for towels it was on the same request form that was sent for diapers and feminine hygiene products, he said. “The towels were misinterpreted for toilettes.”
When 4,000 packs of toilettes arrived, “it didn’t meet their needs and we had to adapt,” Turner said, noting Red Cross purchased more than 1,000 towels from local merchants.
Sydney Hoffman, director of the governor’s office of faith-based and community initiatives, said her office began working on the towel fiasco as soon as they heard about it.
“There were towels there,” she said. “But they ended up across the street at another shelter. … They let us know of the need and we tracked down the towels and got them across the street where they needed to be.
“We also worked out a deal with the Sheraton to provide free laundry service for the evacuees,” Hoffman noted. “It may not seem like a big deal, but if you need a shower and don’t have a towel, it’s a pretty big deal.”
Tommy Puckett agrees it is “a big deal.” As director of Alabama Baptists’ disaster relief efforts, he needs for Red Cross and other agencies to come through with their parts of the relief efforts.
“One of the challenges that will be put before Red Cross and Alabama’s EMA (Emergency Management Agency), is that you had better have towels,” he said.
“We can’t come in with towels,” Puckett said of the 11 shower trailers supported and run by Alabama Baptists. “That would be cost prohibitive for us. We might can do the little bars of soap and even keep those well stocked,” he said, but towels “we can’t do.”
“Part of this is going to have to be evaluated … as we look at the sheltering process,” Puckett said, noting Hurricane Gustav provided the “first true test” of Alabama’s ability to provide for evacuees in an organized manner.
“We need to have a sit-down (meeting) … so that we don’t wind up feeling our way along as each situation develops.”
He just hopes he is invited to attend the meeting. “We have earned the right with all of our feeding teams and equipment and shower trailers,” Puckett said. “We ought to be in on that evaluation. … We are a major player. We are in partnership with Red Cross and the Salvation Army.”
If Puckett gets to attend the meeting, he plans to suggest that the responsibilities of each of the emergency responders and faith-based organizations be earmarked. “When Red Cross is in charge of shelters, list exactly what that means,” he said. He also wants all community colleges evaluated as far as their ability to handle evacuees.
Lauree Ashcom, deputy public information officer for Alabama’s EMA, could not confirm the role Alabama Baptists would play, if any, in the evaluation meeting.
“I’m not sure how this will work,” she said. But “there will be a lot of meetings to talk about what did happen, all those issues.”
And while towels and soap will likely be a minor detail on the agenda, those two items will remain a major memory for many Alabama Baptists.
“This was a major cooperative effort across the state,” Scott said, noting chaplains handed out the towels and soap as they found people needing them. That gave them an opportunity to talk with the people one on one and meet spiritual needs as well as meet a physical need.
The towel need was met thanks to a large donation by Valleydale Baptist Church, Birmingham, in Birmingham Association as well as donations by Birmingham Association; First Baptist Church, Sandusky, in Birmingham Association; and the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries.
A couple from The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, in Birmingham Association, also donated towels as did a member of Mountain View Baptist Church, Phil Campbell, in Franklin Baptist Association. More than 100 miles away from the situation, the member of Mountain View Baptist was the first to donate toward the effort.
Homewood’s K-Mart also helped by providing a discount to Alabama Baptists’ purchases for the evacuees. And several other individuals, churches and Baptist entities contributed to the effort, leaving Scott amazed at how quickly Alabama Baptists pulled together to meet a critical need.
“I don’t know what it’s like not to have a towel,” he said, wiping away tears. “One lady came back the next day to thank me,” Scott said. “She said, ‘You will never know what that meant.’”
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