Serving Above and Beyond in Ohio Disaster Relief

Each January Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) volunteers from all over the United States gather for the National SBDR Winter Roundtable. The Roundtable includes two days of intense training for volunteers and one day for Disaster Relief directors to conduct SBDR business.

Last month, roughly 200 people gathered in San Antonio, Texas, for this event. The highlight of the week is the banquet on Tuesday night.

The banquet offers good food provided by the host state’s Disaster Relief feeding teams, entertainment and acknowledgment of individuals who have served over and above the call of duty.

For the second year in a row, Ohio Disaster Relief volunteers have been recognized with the Distinguished Service Award as Most Valuable Volunteer. It is an honor to receive this award as there are only six people recognized each year out of roughly 50,000 SBDR volunteers in North America.

In 2024, Debbie Klepinger received the Distinguished Service Award. 

Debbie serves as Ohio DR’s Administrative Assistant. She is passionate about DR and puts in many, many hours as a volunteer. She does things for Ohio DR that others would not want to do. She maintains the DR database of roughly 440 volunteers and manages all the paperwork.

Debbie also serves on the Incident Management Team for Ohio Disaster Relief. She deploys with Ohio DR teams to manage paperwork, team assignments and statistics that must be reported. This ministry would be in big trouble without someone like Debbie who is committed to the details that matter. Debbie is a member of Beavercreek Baptist Church, Beavercreek.

In 2025, Carl Brown received the Distinguished Service Award.

Since Carl took the lead role for disaster feeding in 2022 he has dedicated countless hours to feeding volunteers and communities in times of crisis. When Ohio Disaster Relief purchased its first Quick Response Feeding Unit, Carl was the one who set it up and organized it for deployment. Since then, Carl has deployed with the QRU every time it has been deployed and has served most of the time as feeding team leader.

In the fall of 2024, Carl led a feeding team to do mass community feeding in Cleveland. The very next week he led a feeding team to feed volunteers in Brook Park. On Saturday of that same week, he led a small feeding team to assist Central Baptist Mission, Akron, with a community event. Carl is a member of Dayton Avenue Baptist Church, Xenia.

We have many volunteers just like Debbie and Carl who serve many hours that go unnoticed. It is volunteers like them that make the work of Ohio Disaster Relief possible.

The 2026 National SBDR Roundtable will convene in Columbus, January 27-29, 2026.

Heading Elected Chairman of SBDR National Steering Committee.
During the National SBDR Winter Roundtable in San Antonio, Texas, Ohio DR Director John Heading was elected as the new Chairman of the SBDR National Steering Committee. This is the first time a non-southern state DR director has served in this position. North Carolina DR Director Tom Beam was elected as vice chair.