Volunteers train for disaster response

By Norman Jameson

BR Editor

James Oakley of Walnut Cove Baptist Church told disaster recovery volunteers it is OK to back away from a task that appears difficult beyond their training.

Photo by Norman Jameson

BR

When disaster strikes, North Carolina Baptist volunteers are willing to rush in where angels fear to tread.

Anxious that volunteers not become a part of the disaster, North Carolina Baptist Men (NCBM) is training volunteers by the hundreds.

"The best volunteer is a prepared volunteer," said disaster relief response coordinator Gaylon Moss at the latest training session March 28-29 at Trinity Baptist Church in Raleigh. "We don't want a volunteer to become a disaster victim."

Baptist Men holds five disaster relief-training events each year; in odd numbered regions on odd years and even numbered regions on even years.

A volunteer corps of almost 60 set up Trinity parking lots as a disaster recovery staging area and 448 volunteers received training or recertification in recovery, child care, chaplaincy, food preparation or communications. A cold rain drove recovery training inside for the final hour.

Noise and smoke

Chain saws, mud shovels, roofers and dry wall dominated the front parking lot along a busy Raleigh highway as volunteers stood shivering for their turn at the tools. Moss admitted the noise, smoke and excitement of tools and trucks sometimes gets volunteers so excited at the disaster site that they jump into their task without adequately surveying the situation.

"Don't lose sight that these are just the tools we use to get in front of people," said Moss, who urged volunteers to "know why you are serving in disaster relief because it requires enormous sacrifice in money, time, resources, energy, pain and blood."

Moss, who joined N.C. Baptist Men in 1999, said the purpose of disaster relief is to "glorify Jesus Christ by meeting the immediate needs of disaster victims."

North Carolina disaster relief specialists date their first effort to the 1984 Red Springs tornados. From the approximately 30 disaster recovery units available in 1999, North Carolina churches and associations today have 237 response units, more than half of all those among Baptists in the nation. "With this blessing comes the responsibility to respond," said Moss.

Ironically as other states increase their disaster response capacities, the need for North Carolina Baptists to respond outside the state is diminished. New work camps will provide trained volunteers opportunities to utilize their skills and willingness in poverty stricken areas of the state and areas, like Grifton, still recovering from flooding years ago.

To date, NCBM has certified 9,500 volunteers in the disaster relief specialties. Once trained the most essential element is availability, Moss said. "We don't need 10,000 volunteers who don't say 'yes.'"

"If you don't say 'yes' all your training doesn't matter," he said.

He encouraged volunteers to prepare their work places and families ahead of time to take up their responsibilities so they can respond to a call for help. Leaders estimated that just one percent of trained volunteers can drop what they're doing and respond.

Moss emphasized, "We're not a duct tape and bleach operation. We don't react. We respond."

Instructors throughout the weekend emphasized safety to keep from extending the disaster by inappropriate or careless actions. Swollen, moldy furnishings may obviously need to be carried to the street for discard, but never remove anything from a flooded house without the owner's permission, they said. That wrecked chest may be a family heirloom.

Volunteers saw slides of poor quality work done by contractors after storms. "I wouldn't want it repaired that way in my house and we don't want to do it any other way to a family we're ministering to," said instructor Paul Stapf of Blaise Baptist Church.

Stapf also talked about safety while on a roof. On a steep pitch, he said, make sure the guy holding your rope is stout enough to bear your weight. He told a story of when his anchor man was a little light and he expressed concern that if he started to fall from the roof, he'd pull the anchor man over with him.

"Oh, don't worry about that," the anchor said. "If you start to go, I'll let go of the rope!"

Jimmy Lawrence, from Mayodan First Baptist Church, trained workers in moving mud. He said equipment is important for safety because "you want to go home the same way you came, physically. Spiritually, you'll be changed forever."