Thank you for helping us Go & Stay

On August 26th Laura slammed into the Lousiana Coast as a strong Category 4 storm.  We were asked to go to Dequincy, La to feed hot meals.   Our teams arrived on day 2 after landfall of Laura.   We prepared, served and delivered over 2,000 meals to those impacted.   While on the way back home we were asked to come to Lake Charles, LA to feed the next weekend.  Our team came home resupplied, loaded and departed for Lake Charles.   We were joined by a team from Redemption Church in Saraland.  Our teams converged on First Baptist Church of Gillis pastored by Glenn George.   We prepared hot meals Friday through Sunday.   Our teams cooked, packed and served from the church.   The Redemption teams delivered while also helping clean up yards in the community.   In all we served over 5,500 meals that weekend from FBC Gillis.

As we were preparing for our third trip to Louisiana, we were hearing rumblings of another hurricane in the Gulf.  This one named Sally.  As the days rolled by we realized we would not be making another trip to Lake Charles, because we would be needed at home.   Sally made a direct hit on our county on September 16th.   Sally was suppose to be a small storm with lots of rain.   She brought lots of rain but also lots of destruction.  Sally stalled over our county pounding us with Hurricane force winds for almost eight hours.   The effects of Sally were similar to that of a Category 4 storm.  Our county's power grid had been decimated.  Many residential structures were lost.  Our roads covered and impassable.  Many of our rivers were at flooding, the coast knocked out.    This would be the first time we would get to stay and feed our own community.

Two days after the storm our EMA tasked us with housing and feeding 75 first responders.   It was an honor to serve these law enforcement officers.  Most of these were search and rescue crews.  The same day we were asked to house and feed our Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams.   The first weekend following the storm we were housing and feeding over 100 relief workers.    That same weekend we began feeding our community hot meals.  We served meals Friday, Saturday and Sunday following Sally.  We served over 5,000 meals that weekend to relief workers, and our community.    

On Monday we gathered ourselves, rested, resupplied and began feeding again Tuesday and Wednesday.    We fed over 3,000 meals these days.   With power coming  back up, and businesses reopening we stopped our mass feeding on Wednesday, September 23rd.    We still are hosting Southern Baptist Disaster relief chainsaw and tarp crews.  These crews are working on approximately 1,000 requests to help our community.   We can't thank them enough for their hard work.  These volunteers have came from as far away as Oklahoma and as close as our own Baldwin County Disaster Relief Team.   They have literally cut their way into the hearts of our community.   They do this hard work for free.  They hope to show the love of Jesus to hurting people.   It so good to be a part of our Southern Baptist family.

We also thank our volunteers.  We had people cooking, packing, and serving the needs of our neighbors while their homes and property were damaged.   It is one thing to go to a place and serve when your home is together.  It's  another to serve the needs of people, when your home is also damaged.    Our church is made of people who put others above themselves.   Our hope is that every meal, every act of love, every prayer, will show people there is HOPE is in the midst of trouble.    That hope is found in Jesus.   Storms will come and go, Jesus remains forever.

We had hope to get this update to you sooner.   As you can tell we've been a little busy.    Again thanks for your prayers and support.

Our team at FBC Gillis in Lake Charles. We partnered with Redemption Church.

Sally makes landfall on our county.

We housed first responders from Tuscaloosa, Opelika, and Gadsen counties. We are so grateful for their service to Baldwin County.

Our SBC Disaster Relief teams are still with us, they are working on around 1,000 requests for help. These volunteers truly show the love of Jesus.