Our Workday Report for Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Today we were in Chelsea, Alabama at the request/referral of the Disaster Response Ministry Coordinator of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church.  Our client today, Mr. Bill Roberson, was awakened in the middle of the night a short while back by the sound of a huge limb that had broken off from a tree on his property in a high wind and came crashing down on - and in some places through - his metal roof.

This is Mr. Roberson.

Our team today consisted of (pictured from left to right): Jim Pressler, Ken Clements, Bob Suellentrop, Eric Bradley, Boyd Martin, Buddy Williams, Bob Thompson; plus (separately pictured below) Henry Averyt and Carey Baird. And of course we could not have completed this job without the special assistance of Asbury UMC’s skid steer, Abel!

We were especially blessed to have Carey working with us today.  He is our blade sharpening partner and teammate and he brought his mobile workshop to the job site today to sharpen our chainsaw chains, as well as other forestry, arbor and lawn equipment blades that have become dulled from our use these past many weeks.  Carey spent the entire morning in his workshop working on the items teammates brought to him for his evaluation and sharpening.  Certainly your work with us today, Carey, was especially timely and as always, we appreciate the service you offer to us and the special support you bring to the Cutters for Christ disaster response ministry.

Our assignment today was to remove the tree that had fallen and impaled itself on Mr. Roberson’s roof and then tarp the roof so that no rain could enter through the holes that were exposed once the tree was removed.  (Someone will be coming to Mr. Roberson’s house by the end of the week to make permanent repairs to his damaged roof.)  Here are before, during and after photos of our work today.

While we were at work we were visited by Fox6-TV news reporter Erika Gonzalez who, after gathering videotape and interviews with us and with Mr. Roberson, departed to return to her station to compose a story about Cutters for Christ for the evening newscasts.  Her report has been posted on the Fox6 website at http://www.myfoxal.com/story/25802528/cutter-for-christ-provide-free-storm-debris-clean-up-in-jefferson-county.

We had estimated that we would finish our work at Mr. Roberson’s home before lunchtime today and we finished right AT lunchtime as it turned out.  We were pleasantly surprised by the very kind invitation of our team safety officer, Henry Averyt, to enjoy lunch at his residence located just a few miles away from where we were working today before heading to our respective homes.  Here we all are, along with Henry’s lovely wife, Sharon, relaxing and enjoying the view from the their back porch just before devouring the Jim ’N Nicks barbecue sandwiches, coleslaw, baked beans and lemonade spread our hosts had laid out for us!  Thank you, Henry and Sharon, for this very special, unexpected but most welcomed invitation to dine with you.

All in all, although the weather was hot, the sun was shining brightly and the humidity was high, we got the job done for Mr. Roberson and in so doing we were able to once again share the joy of Christ with another storm victim.  He was so appreciative of the work we were able to complete for him that he insisted we allow him to donate his fiberglass extension ladder to our ministry!

Call for Volunteers on Tuesday, June 24, 2014 We will be headed back to Bessemer next Tuesday, June 24, for what will probably be our final deployment related to the April 28 tornadoes.  If you’re able to participate, please drop me a note letting me know so we can be sure to send you the particulars as we get closer to that date.

Thank you, once again, to everyone who volunteered to work on our CFC team today.  As always it was a great day of Christian fellowship, doing what we enjoy doing together in the service of our Lord. In His Service, Bob Bob Thompson Cutters for Christ Disaster Response Ministry Deployment/Team Coordinator _____________________________________________________________