ABDR contributes to relief efforts in Texas

Arkansas Baptist Disaster Relief (ABDR) recently deployed to Texas following the devastating flash floods in the Hill Country, particularly along the Guadalupe River, over Fourth of July weekend that has resulted in at least 134 deaths.

When he got a phone call about the flood event in Texas, ABDR Director Randy Garrett said the first thing they did was send box ministry volunteers to San Saba, Texas.  

“As bad as the flooding was in Kerrville that flooding also hit San Saba. It’s a small community known as the Pecan Capital of the World. It’s just a beautiful part of the country,” said Charles Wilson, Baring Cross Baptist Church Box Ministry unit leader. In addition to the July 4 flooding, San Saba saw further flooding about a week later on Sunday, July 13.  

“Our team came down here on Saturday. Then Sunday it rained again. It rained 9 inches overnight,” Wilson said.  

The Box Ministry Unit brought a little more than 1,200 packing boxes and supplies to San Saba. Residents can come pick up the boxes, or ABDR volunteers can deliver the boxes and help them pack their valuables.  

“Those are the ministry opportunities we have to be able to spend some one-on-one time with folks and share the love of Jesus with them. That is really the purpose of the ministry, to share God’s love with them, give them hope, and just help them in a time of trauma. …  We’re down here to save souls and help people in need,” Wilson said.  

On Saturday, Garrett said he received another call requesting they send a quick response kitchen trailer to Texas that would provide support to Texas Task Force 2 – one of two state Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Teams in the state of Texas. According to their website, the task force “provides a coordinated effort as well as the necessary personnel and equipment to locate, extricate, rescue, and provide immediate medical treatment to victims trapped as a result of a natural or man-made disaster.”  Garrett reached out to the Red River Baptist Association in Arkadelphia. They had a unit on the road on Sunday and began feeding on Monday.  

“It’s kind of a unique deployment for us. Traditionally, we support some type of a SBDR, our teams or another state. This time they asked us to do the feeding for Texas Task Force 2, the elite search and rescue for the state of Texas. We’re embedded at their command center, and we are feeding approximately 150-200 of their members that are going out. They are the ones that are doing the heavy lifting, still doing that search and rescue. We’ll be doing that for the foreseeable future,” Garrett said, noting he has units on standby for the next several weeks.  

In addition to their deployment in Texas, ABDR feeding units fed the Area Maritime Security Committee at the Port of Little Rock on Tuesday and World Changers this week in Little Rock.  

“We’ve got great volunteers. They’re just ready to go. We’re able to do multiple tasks because of all the training we’ve had over the years, as well as just good people,” Garrett said.  

For more information about ABDR or ways to donate, visit abscdisasterrelief.org.   

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