2 Deployments in 3 Weeks!!!

The lull in severe weather we were so blessed to enjoy came to an abrupt end just a few weeks ago.  And that brought us to active status very quickly.  We have much to report in this edition of our newsletter update!  Our teams have been both to Albany, GA and Hattiesburg, MS in the aftermath of the tornadoes that recently struck those communities.

First...Albany.

The Albany, GA team consisted of 6 members. Pictured from left to right - Tim Smith, Boyd Martin, Buddy Williams, Henry Averyt and Samaritan's Purse Team Leader Carl Martin. Not pictured - John Calhoun, Ken Clements and the Asbury UMC skid steer, Abel.

Our team was in Albany from Sunday, January 15 through Saturday, January 21, 2017, serving under the leadership and coordination of Samaritan's Purse, our out-of-area travel partner.  Team members took pictures, but had no time to even attempt a written report of their activities because of the short time between their return home and their re-deployment to Hattiesburg just 7 days later.  Their pictures, nevertheless, tell the story of the disaster that brought both Samaritan's Purse and Cutters for Christ to that community to help out.  And as you may be aware, a second, even more devastating tornado, struck Albany again the very evening just after we left town that morning!

Before

After

Then...Hattiesburg. Our 9-member Hattiesburg team mobilized in just 3 days following the tornado that hit that community on Saturday night, January 21.  We arrived in Hattiesburg 7 days later on Sunday, January 29 and worked there through Saturday, February 4, 2017.  Hattiesburg holds a special place in our hearts.  It was almost 4 years ago that our first travel deployment with Samaritan's Purse was to Hattiesburg following the tornado that hit that community then!  This year we were hosted by Carterville Baptist Church in Petal, MS - just 1.5 miles down the road from Petal-Harvey Baptist Church, our host church in March of 2013.  (This time Petal-Harvey Baptist Church had been pressed into service as a Petal public school before we arrived.  The Petal public school itself had been hit by the tornado and was not safe for the children to occupy at this time.)  This "Welcome to Petal" billboard (surrounded by evidence of the tornado that touched down just one mile from Carterville Baptist Church) greeted us as we drove into town.

Our Hattiesburg team consisted of (front row, left to right): Ken Clements, Boyd Martin, Samaritan's Purse Team Leader Rita Garcia, Bob Thompson, Henry Averyt; (back row, left to right) John Calhoun, Larry Taylor, Buddy Williams, Bob Suellentrop, Samaritan's Purse Team Leader Robert Garcia and Tim Smith. And of course, the intrepid skid steer, Abel!

The tornado struck around 2 am Saturday morning, January 21, and tracked from the southwest to the northeast, with particular damage spots in southwest Hattiesburg and in Petal.  Our first assignment came within the hour of our arrival in Hattiesburg.  We went through a quick SP orientation and then were sent to the southwest Hattiesburg location hardest hit, in the area of the red circle on the map photo below.

Here are just a few examples of the damage in this subdivision:

Sunday, January 29.  At our first assigned job site, the home of property owner Brenda - photographed with our SP Team Leader, Vic Floener - we were tasked with removing tree debris that had ended up falling into the lake at the rear of Brenda's home.

Upon our return to volunteer headquarters we set up our dormitory "bedrooms" and prepared for our dinner.  The well-organized administration that Samaritan's Purse brings to disaster response ministry is what we particularly like about working with that organization when we travel out-of-area.  The availability of dormitory space, pre-approved job assignments, outstanding meals and, especially, hot showers - all at no charge to volunteers - are what makes our days of service a special blessing to us in addition to the work we perform and the reason we are involved in disaster response ministry: to share Jesus' love with those affected by severe storms.

The daily routine had us up at 5:30 am; a hot breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, grits, biscuits and gravy, fruit, plus pancakes every other day, juice, coffee, milk, cereal, etc., all prepared by Mona, Curtis and their fellow SP cooks; a devotional at 7 am; new volunteers' orientation at 7:30 am; off to job sites at 8 am; lunch in the field - typically PB&J or turkey/ham and cheese sandwiches we each prepared for ourselves before we left the church; quitting time between 4 and 4:30 pm; travel back to the dorm for showers around 5 pm; dinner at 6 pm again prepared by the SP staff (on Wednesday night we shared dinner with the church congregation members who gathered for their traditional mid-week supper and on Thursday night our dinner was prepared by Petal-Harvey congregation members in appreciation for SP's return to help their community a second time) - roast beef one night, spaghetti and meatballs another, chicken cordon-blue a third night, casseroles and more the other evenings - all home made and accompanied by vegetables, rice, fruit, coffee, iced tea, lemonade and really decadent desserts; a time of voluntary sharing where anyone can speak to the entire group of assembled volunteers about where they observed God's presence either with us as volunteers or with the homeowners we served during the day; followed by fellowship time both in the large fellowship hall and in smaller groups in the dorm rooms; then quiet time at 9 pm and lights out at 10 pm.  By the third day, many of us would be found already asleep before 9 pm!!!

Monday, January 30.  We returned to the southwest Hattiesburg community that was so severely struck by the storm.  The tornado took the lives of 4 people in Hattiesburg and we were assigned to work at the home of one of them.  Simona Cox, age 76, and her husband, Hal, were living in this home which was a 2-story dwelling before it was struck.  Mrs. Cox died and Mr. Cox suffered a back injury as the tornado devastated their residence while they were sleeping.  Later in the week we were able to meet Hal and his son, George - as a young adult George was not living at the family home at the time of the storm - who joined us for dinner one evening.  Hal thanked us for our work and praised God even as he grieved the passing of his wife, offering a strong public testimony of his faith.

In the photo below Mr. Cox and his son, George, are seated at the table surrounded by our CFC team and chaplains from the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team.

Tuesday, January 31.  Workday #3 brought a break from our work in southwest Hattiesburg and presented us with an assignment in Petal, just a mile from our base of operations at Carterville Baptist Church.  We were sent to the residences of James and his neighbor Judy to fell trees that were beyond the capabilities of another team before us that had cleaned up their ground debris.  This part of town, with blue tarps covering so many roofs that were damaged by the winds, looked a lot like Pratt City when we worked there in 2011.

Before

After

James and Judy:

James and Judy live at the end of a cul-de-sac.  Between our several disaster response ministry vehicles and the roofers and carpenters already working on neighborhood homes there, it was almost impossible to pile debris in a location that the city will be able to reach with their grapple trucks when they eventually attempt to maneuver down the street.  Abel piled everything we cut higher and higher.  The picture on the left below is actually taken in front of James' neighbor's house - the only place left on the street where we could pile debris.

Wednesday, February 1.  Our 4th workday took us back to our southwest Hattiesburg neighborhood and the residence of Dorothy and Charles. Dorothy and Charles:

Their home, like so many others, was upscale and backed up to the subdivision lake.  But it was now scheduled to be razed once the tree debris could be removed from it and around it.  Tall pines left standing but snapped off between 10' and 30' above the ground - 'hags' as they are called - lacking branches and thus no directional weight to help fell them, took as many as 7 wedges to accomplish the job.  We found it curious that while the whole back side of their home was destroyed, the cocktail glasses and liquor bottles on their bar somehow remained untouched!

Before

After

Before

After

Boyd cut our Cutters for Christ '3-Crosses' logo into one of the remaining root ball stumps and I carved a freestanding cross into a stump we purposefully left taller for that specific purpose.  Charles said he would preserve it and make sure it was not damaged when their new home is reconstructed on the site.  He wants everyone who travels past his property to see what Jesus did for him and his family - which is not insignificant!  On the night the tornado struck, his daughter, Derica, had been asleep in her bedroom on the second floor.  She awakened to go to the bathroom and when she returned to her bedroom she found one outside wall completely gone and everything that had been in her room was upended and destroyed.  Charles and Dot were in their own bedroom on the first floor.  While the exterior walls of their room were blown out, their bed and their clothes closet were untouched.

After completing our assignment at Dot and Charles' home we moved just down the street to the home of Diane's daughter.  We never met her daughter, but Diane, who greeted us at the residence, showed us the debris in the backyard they hoped we could clear away. Diane:

Relative to the other assignments we undertook in this neighborhood, this one seemed significantly easier.  But it is important to realize that no matter how big or small the damage, if it happens to you, it's a big deal.  And so we treat each job with respect and acknowledge the trauma each homeowner may be going through no matter how big or small it might appear to us.

Before

After

On a lighter side of this story, let me take just a moment to tell you how important lunch breaks are to us.  They are a time of fellowship and decompression and rejuvenation in preparation for our afternoon's work.  We were especially blessed during our lunch breaks to partake of homemade brownies that were made for us by our CFC teammate Nancy Miller.  Although she could not be with us in Hattiesburg, Nancy sent along enough brownies to last us the entire week!  We swear they seemed to multiply!  Maybe it had something to do with the work we were doing and who we were doing it for - kingdom building for the Lord.  Thank you so very much, Nancy!

And in the evenings, before quiet time, there was even time some time for the Cutters for Christ trio to rehearse and lead hymn singing with those other volunteers willing to join in.

Thursday, February 2.  Our workday #5 morning assignment took us to a Petal location, just across the Hardy Street trestle bridge, to a property on the west bank of the Leaf River.  Here Jason, Donna and their son, Sam, made their home - a property that had been in Jason's family's hands for centuries and had been handed down to Jason from his grandfather. Sam, Donna and Jason:

Both a homestead (the light blue building) and a former church building (the cream colored structure with the roof blown off) comprised the buildings on the property.  This property was a tangle of scruffy bushes, vines, downed trees and 'hags.'

Before

After

Before

After

Under some of the debris we found a koi pond!  Some of the fish survived the tornado!

After completing this assignment and eating lunch we drove back to our southwest Hattiesburg neighborhood to work at the home of Gwen and Billy Mason whose home also was destined to be demolished and rebuilt.  The 35" diameter oak tree in their backyard was one of the 2 largest trees we encountered (the other was about the same size at the Cox residence earlier in the week) and which we removed. Gwen and Billy Mason:

Before, looking west

Before, looking north

Friday, February 3.  Our final workday took us back to Gwen and Billy's house to finish the job and conduct a final clean up before completing our week of work in Hattiesburg.

After, looking west

After, looking north

We were 9 of about 40 volunteers who worked with Samaritan's Purse in Hattiesburg that week.  As we were departing we were told that 110 volunteers were expected to arrive on Sunday to work the next week.  It is truly amazing to see the number of people who come from all over the country - of all faith denominations and cultural backgrounds - who come together to help brothers and sisters in need.  It was a blessing to us to serve these property owners, all of who lost possessions, most of who lost their homes, and one of who lost her life.  Our Cutters for Christ disaster response ministry mission is "Restoring Hope in Jesus' Name."  We certainly hope we were able to do that for those we touched in Albany and Hattiesburg. Please continue to pray for the individuals affected in any way by severe storms wherever they may be, but especially for those in these two communities where we have most recently served.  Pray that they WILL successfully transition from victims to survivors, that they WILL feel Jesus' love and that they WILL receive His peace.

In His Service,

Bob Thompson