JARRETTSVILLE, Md. – For the Evans family – Verla, her son Mark, his wife Harmony and their daughter Phoebe – Southern Baptist Disaster Relief is a family affair. Sometimes family togetherness means using a chainsaw or clearing debris after a storm. Other times it’s sanitizing a basement after a flood.
“To see three generations serving and how they work together is wonderful,” said Ellen Udovich, community engagement/disaster relief missionary for the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware. “They are hard workers and cheerful workers willing to do whatever is needed. They get along with everyone.”
Udovich first worked with Verla Evans in 2003 after Hurricane Isabel.
“We were cooking 6,000 meals a day in a Baltimore church parking lot for two weeks,” Udovich recalled. “Our ‘warehouse’ was a semi-trailer full of pallets. We needed an inventory team to keep track of what was in there! Verla immediately stepped up; her husband was a manager at Mars, so she knew all about keeping track of product.
“Back in those days, everything was done by hand, so all she had was a flashlight, a yellow legal pad on a clipboard, and her assistant, daughter Hannah. They brought order out of chaos – at any given moment, she could tell the head cook exactly how many servings of green beans were still on the truck.”
Now, Udovich says Phoebe, 20, bears a resemblance to her Aunt Hannah, who earned a reputation for outstanding flood recovery work when she was about Phoebe’s age.
“Hannah’s team had worked all day to tear out a heavily damaged home, but they still had to get wet insulation out of a long, narrow crawlspace,” Udovich said. “Hannah was the only one small enough to fit, but her team leader was reluctant to send such a young, inexperienced volunteer into that kind of claustrophobic situation. But Hannah was willing; she put on full safety gear, nervously wiggled in on her stomach, and got the job done. Just like an Evans.”
Mark, now a high school math teacher, also started young in his DR career, deploying for the first time after a tornado.
“We had 50-75 DR volunteers living and working out of Leonardtown Baptist Church every day for several weeks,” Udovich said. “But Mark stood out – let’s just say he was an ‘out of the box’ thinker.”
Mark’s wife Harmony and Phoebe completed DR training last year and already have served after several natural disasters. They’ve learned that the work is not easy.
“It’s hot and dirty, and sometimes you’re in a house full of mold and wearing protection so you don’t get sick,” Udovich said. “That just comes with the territory. We know that’s how it’s going to be, but it’s encouraging to meet homeowners and other Christians. We have wonderful fellowship, eat dinners together and have Bible study. I can’t say enough about how encouraging it is to all of us serving. It’s a wonderful, spiritual experience.”
Verla Evans has had a few of those sweet experiences working in disaster relief. One that stands out to her happened on a deployment in Vermont.
“Before we went to someone’s home, I prayed, ‘Lord, I really want to be useful to the kingdom,’” Evans recalled. “This gentleman who owned the home, Rick, said, ‘You’re a Baptist – What do you believe?’ It was a wide-open door! That was the most dramatic experience. I started with creation and went right on through the Gospel. He listened. He didn’t make a decision, but we leave that up to God.”
Those experiences are even more special when they can be shared with family.
“It is such a privilege … to be working side by side,” she said. “And they love it. They’re just as interested as I am.”
Udovich said she’s been seeing more combinations of parents attending training with their older teenage or young adult children.
“That’s cool to see that new dynamic,” she said. Teens are welcome to train at 17. “The minute you turn 18, we’ll run the background check and send the badge!” she added.
A Maryland/Delaware team is preparing to deploy to Vermont in early September to help with flood recovery.
This story originally appeared at BCMD.org. Ellen Udovich contributed to this story.
