This is a good, well-oiled machine that is constantly being revamped and improved upon,” said Tommy Puckett, director of disaster relief for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. “We seek to improve every year so we can respond in a more efficient manner.”
Since the series of major hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast states over the past two years, state Baptist conventions across the country have sought to increase the scope of disaster relief, bringing more trained volunteers into the fold. In Alabama, that effort has meant a series of training conferences in almost every association encompassing training in nearly every facet of disaster relief.
“After (Hurricane) Katrina, we had to do some on-the-job training,” Puckett said. “We don’t want to have to do that. We want people trained and ready to go as soon as possible after a disaster.”
On Feb. 23, more than 90 volunteers from Choctaw and Washington counties attended the first disaster relief training conference in their area. Held at Cullomburg Baptist Church, Silas, in Choctaw Baptist Association, the conference offered training in the basics of disaster relief, as well as a second session on cleanup and recovery.
Volunteers who attended the conference received identification badges and disaster relief team caps and are now qualified to serve as part of disaster relief efforts should disasters happen.
According to Franklin McLelland, director of missions for Choctaw Association, the event was the first in a series of similar conferences planned for the area.
For the past year, similar training conferences have taken place across Alabama, with others planned for the coming weeks, including a statewide conference to be held at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in Talladega April 21–22.
Training will be available in areas such as unit ministry, cleanup and recovery, chain saw, child care, communications and administration.
In addition to the Shocco Springs conference and workshops for new trainees, update training sessions are being conducted across the state for those already trained in certain areas.
In particular, those trained for feeding units and child-care teams must attend update training every three years.
Other teams will maintain contact about any new equipment that will be used, and some teams will be updated on an associational level, Puckett said.
According to him, more training sessions will be held throughout the state through May. He said the goal is to ensure that volunteers are trained and ready to respond immediately.
“That allows us to move in quicker and start serving and ministering to people in a faster, more efficient way.
“Since Katrina, the government is watching us to see what makes us tick,” he added. “They want to know how to get there, get set up and help people as quickly as possible. These training sessions are so that we can get better and faster at this.”
With the number of volunteers growing throughout the state, new trainees in areas like Choctaw and Washington counties are instrumental in that effort.
According to McLelland, the volunteer training sessions are opportunities for Baptists in his association — who have been accustomed to reaching out on a local level — to be prepared for a broader outreach in the future.
“Most of what we’ve done in (our) county with missions work is to help underprivileged people in our own area,” he said. “Now we are branching out to help other areas. It’s part of our mission field now.”
Volunteer teams train for quick, effective response to disasters
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