PARKERSBURG, Iowa (BP)–Disaster relief volunteers from the Baptist Convention of Iowa and the neighboring Illinois Baptist State Association are still on call in Parkersburg preparing meals following the strongest tornado to hit Iowa in 32 years.
As of June 4, the two feeding units had provided 26,395 meals to the Red Cross for distribution and 42 Iowa and Illinois volunteers had been mobilized since operations began May 27, Ty Berry, disaster relief coordinator for the Iowa convention, said. Crews were expected to work through June 8.
The feeding units are set up in the city park in nearby Aplington, and the Red Cross has been delivering the meals to three feeding sites in the area. The largest site is the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Parkersburg, which is located just outside the damage zone in the southeast portion of the town of 1,900.
An EF5 tornado with winds of up to 205 mph struck Parkersburg May 25, killing six people. The same system also killed two residents in nearby New Hartford. According to one count, officials said 222 homes and 21 businesses were destroyed and more than 400 homes were damaged in Parkersburg. The town’s high school and sole grocery store and gas station were destroyed.
Iowa and Illinois disaster relief chaplains have ministered in the communities affected by the storm by delivering water, Bibles and blankets to the victims, Berry said, as well as by being ready to talk through the emotions individuals are continuing to process.
Community officials and residents have expressed appreciation to Southern Baptists for their disaster relief efforts as the city of Parkersburg prepares to count the financial cost of the tornado. The city council was scheduled to meet June 5 to decide on a plan to tackle the estimated 60,000 tons of debris that needs to be removed from the town.
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, a partnership ministry of state Baptist conventions and the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, includes approximately 1,500 mobile units used for feeding, chainsaw, mud-out, command, communication, child care, shower, laundry, water purification, repair/rebuild and generators, according to the NAMB website. More than 83,000 disaster relief volunteers have been trained, including at least 2,300 chaplains.
The first Southern Baptist Disaster Relief response was in 1967 when a small group of Texas volunteers helped victims of Hurricane Beulah by serving hot food cooked on small burners. Last year, Southern Baptist volunteers prepared more than 1 million meals for victims of 245 disasters, and more than 500 professions of faith in Jesus were recorded as a result.
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Compiled by Baptist Press staff writer Erin Roach with reporting by Richard Nations, editor of the Iowa Baptist newspaper.
