CFC Serves in the Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew

From Sunday, October, October 16 through Saturday, October 22, 2016 five of our members deployed to Blufton, South Carolina to serve as a chainsaw team with Samaritan's Purse. Those making the trip were (left to right) Boyd Martin, Tim Smith, John Calhoun, Buddy Williams and (not pictured) Henry Averyt.

Buddy Williams recently submitted this report: "On the 5 days of work we assisted 15 families. "Our first job on Monday we cut and removed 2 trees in the front yard of a person that was preparing our dinner that night (helping those who are helping us). While we were there the neighbor next door came over and asked if we could clear her driveway so she could get in and out to her house. After getting her to go by the church and complete a ROE [Right Of Entry work permission form] we were able to go and open up her drive from a huge amount of debris made by the city when they cleared the road 8 days before. "Our 3rd job for the day was removing 2 downed trees from a home owner's drive and yard.

"We finished this job on Tuesday morning. That night the home owner contacted me and wanted to meet us on Wednesday to give us T shirts to show their thanks.

"Wednesday afternoon we went to a very plush gated community where a huge live oak had been blown over. The home owner would not let us put the skid [tractor] in his yard so we cut the tree up and left it for the home owner to handle the removal. This tree was about 5’ in diameter. [That is a Stihl 660 chainsaw with a 36" bar that Buddy is pictured holding! A big, powerful chainsaw that was borrowed from SP and every bit needed to cut through the base of that massive live oak.]

"Our next job was 10 minutes from the church but it took us 1 ½ hours to find. You might say it was located a little off the grid. There were many trees on the ground and 4 hung up in the trees. I got the skid stuck 2 times and we left 2 trees still hung because of our safety. We also had to keep our eye open for the alligator watching us in the lake and the mosquitoes were almost as big as the gator.

"We worked other small jobs and met a lot of nice people. Best of all we ate very good."

And John Calhoun also shared this special connection he made during the week:

"Back in 2005 my church group stayed at Frank Boykin's hunting lodge north of Mobile when we helped after Hurricane Katrina hit. That's Frank's brother, Hamilton, in this photo. He and his wife are the owners of the house where the big live oak tree job was. Strange coincidence!!!!!!!"

Of special note, when filing his report Buddy also shared with me the fact that for the first time since we've been working with Samaritan's Purse - our relationship dates back to 2012 - our CFC team was assigned to work sites in Blufton without an SP supervisory team leader. We consider this is a very special recognition of our skills and capabilities but even more so of our faith-based mission to share the love of Jesus Christ and restore hope in His name with the survivors of severe storms through our service. We sincerely thank SP for its confidence in us.

Don't forget to check in with us from time to time on our blog page located at http://cuttersforchrist.blogspot.com.

In His Service, Bob Bob Thompson Cutters for Christ Disaster Response Ministry Deployment/Team Coordinator _____________________________________________________________