Ohio Disaster Relief on the Ground in Hurricane Zone

By John Heading, SCBO Disaster Relief state director 

Flexibility is important in Disaster Relief (DR) ministry.

Disaster situations change rapidly, so DR teams must be flexible and willing to pivot on a moment's notice. 

Since two catastrophic hurricanes, Helene and Milton, roared through the southeastern United States, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) teams have been on the ground in the impacted areas bringing help, hope, and healing.

Ohio DR teams are among those SBDR teams responding to the disaster. In mid-October, SBDR was manning 31 Disaster Relief sites in six states: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

The process to deploy Ohio DR teams to hurricane-ravaged areas began as soon as the storms moved out to sea and flexibility was a big part of the process.

At first, Ohio DR teams were scheduled to deploy to Brevard, North Carolina. However, that site closed before the teams arrived so they were reassigned to either Perry, Florida, or Hendersonville, North Carolina. 

One team was sent to Inverness, Florida, only to be redirected to Clearwater, Florida, as soon as they arrived. An Ohio team traveled to Perry, Florida, but was eventually redirected to Live Oak, Florida. Deployment changes like these are a regular part of DR ministry.

Multiple Ohio DR teams deployed in October. 

Food Service Team

Jodi Calhoon, Cuyahoga Valley Church, Cleveland, led a feeding team to Valdosta, Georgia. The team partnered with Kentucky DR as they cooked and served roughly 6000 meals per day and saw 43 professions of faith.

Chainsaw Team

Tom Miller, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Logan, led a chainsaw team to Live Oak, Florida clearing massive 100 year old trees downed by the hurricanes. 

The only way to clear those trees was to rent heavy equipment for $2500 per week. Mike and Michael Benedetti from Benedetti Construction are new to Ohio Disaster Relief. They brought what equipment they had and OHDR rented whatever they needed. 

In Live Oak, teams worked to clear an old tree and learned from the homeowner that the ashes of family members were buried underneath the tree. To lose these old trees is sad, but the anxiety it caused in the family related to the ashes buried there will be something they will struggle with for a long time.

Flood Recovery Team

Josh Wright, Urbancrest Baptist Church, Lebanon, led a flood recovery team that served in Clearwater, Florida. Their flexibility was challenged as soon as they arrived. Instead of sleeping in an air conditioning church they were assigned to sleep in a giant tent without air conditioning. Considering what the residents of Florida are experiencing, not having air conditioning seems small. The team got to work cleaning up flood damage from the hurricanes. 

Chaplains

Chaplains are an important part of disaster relief. While other DR teams are working to cut down trees or clearing mud from a home, DR chaplains focus on the spiritual and emotional needs of the homeowners impacted by the disaster. 

Stephen Magill, First Baptist Lancaster, served as the chaplain on the flood recovery team in Clearwater. He had conversations with homeowners wherever the team was serving. You never know when a casual conversation will turn into a gospel conversation that ends with someone finding faith in Christ during a difficult time.

Church teams 

Local church teams are relatively new to Ohio DR and the process of Ohio DR deploying church teams has just begun. DR church teams exist to be disaster ready by equipping their church to serve. 

Three church teams deployed in October, two for the first time. FBC Waverly and FBC Lancaster deployed to Augusta, GA to do chainsaw work. Urbancrest BC deployed to Georgia to do chainsaw work. 

Ohio DR volunteers do difficult work that forces them to be flexible as they spend a week out of their regular routine. But in the end, it’s all worth it. As of mid-October the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief hurricane response has seen 114 people come to faith in Christ. No matter how uncomfortable we are in the field, it’s all worth it.