Volunteers Serving in Dallas, Texas

As reported earlier, a group of Ohio Southern Baptists Disaster Relief Child Care Volunteers, twenty one women and men traveled for two days to the Texas Baptist Men’s – Dixon Mission Equipping Center in Dallas.  The team sleeps and eats breakfast and dinner at the center, while traveling a few miles to the Dallas Convention Center to care for the children.  The convention center is home to many evacuees and our ministry provides some time for parents to refocus, visit doctors, and take care of other needs they can attend to in the area.

During the trip, they encountered only one hiccup of consequence.  The air conditioning on the bus quit working early in their mission.  This made frequent stops more necessary than had been planned.  The team used the time off the bus to go over expectations and build relationships.  During a response such as this, it is rare to have a team made up of volunteers who already know each other. 

Today, Tuesday 5 September, was the first day our team cared for children.  A total of 82 children were cared for.  The children were cared for in the following age groups:  babies, 2-3 years, 4-5 years, and 6-7 years.  Lots of crying was reported!  The area provided to care for the children is rather small in size and the baby and 2-3 age children’s area filled up quickly so additional children of that age were turned away.  Volunteer hearts are broken when this happens, because they know how much all the children need a time to play and feel the love of Jesus.