GREENVILLE, S.C. – S.C. Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers are currently providing shower units, laundry units, feeding units, chainsaw units, incident management, chaplains and damage assessors at locations across South Carolina that were affected by Hurricane Helene.
Mass feeding operations are providing meals to residents in Aiken County, Spartanburg County, Cherokee County and Greenwood County. As of Oct. 2, approximately 4,000 meals have been served, according to Sandy Bezjak of the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s SERVE team.
More than 500 jobs at homes damaged by falling trees, high winds and flooding have been assessed thus far to be worked on in coming weeks, Bezjak added.
A fixed kitchen in Cherokee County is working directly with Broad River Baptist Association, and disaster relief recovery units also are working out of Mt. Airy Baptist Church in Easley, she said.
“South Carolina Baptists, thank you for your active response already to your neighbors and to your communities in the wake of Hurricane Helene and how it has absolutely devastated our state,” Tony Wolfe, executive director-treasure of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, said in a video last week.
“Because we’re one family, we already have a yellow-shirt army that is actively deployed in the immediate hours after a disaster like this.”
In a video posted Wednesday afternoon (Oct. 2), Wolfe said he had been driving around the state the past two days and was stunned by the devastation.
“The damage across South Carolina right now may be the worst we’ve seen in generations,” he said. “And the relief and recovery effort will be long and extensive.”
He said he has witnessed Baptist DR teams “working tirelessly to get food and water to their neighbors while they’re cutting trees from houses and driveways, usually ignoring the trees and water in their own homes.”
Wolfe also urged South Carolina Baptists to get involved by giving generously and volunteering in the recovery effort.
Children’s ministries
Danny Nicholson, president of Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries, provided a video update on the organization’s Greenwood campus Sept. 30.
“We’ve got some cottages that are damaged,” Nicholson reported. “The good news is no children were hurt, no staff were hurt and we’re very, very thankful for that.
“Every single piece of this campus has been touched from structural damage to the cottages, to trees — old, beautiful trees — that have fallen across our campus, to Max Farms that has really been devastated,” Nicholson said. Maxwell Farms is a facility used by the children’s ministry.
Hundreds of people have arrived to help Connie Maxwell recover, including Crumbs Ministries out of Mississippi which is helping feed approximately 500 people a day, he said, expressing appreciation to the volunteers.
Churches and individuals who want to help in some way may go to Connie Maxwell’s website, www.conniemaxwell.com.
Retirement communities
Residents of the Bethea and Martha Franks Retirement Communities, have fared relatively well following the storm, S.C. Baptist Ministries of the Aging President Tom Turner told The Courier.
Bethea, in Darlington, was out of power for about six hours on Friday, while Martha Franks, in Laurens, was without power for about 28 hours, Turner said. Both were on limited backup generators during that time.
“Martha Franks’ challenge has been the staff’s personal situations with power outages and such,” Turner said. “Fortunately, the communities haven’t needed a disaster relief team.”
Turner said he was able to visit Martha Franks Tuesday (Oct. 1) and did not hear any reports from staff members of significant home damage.
“Overall, we are very grateful for God’s protection at both communities this past week,” Turner said.
Camp McCall
Camp McCall near Sunset suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Helene. An estimated 60 to 70 trees are down across the property, and multiple buildings were damaged, including at least one cabin that was destroyed, according to a post on McCall’s Facebook page.
Powerlines and power poles were obliterated, and the lake suffered additional damage by an estimated eight-foot increase in its water level.
At this point, camp officials do not know when the facility will be fully operational again.
If church groups would like to help, contact Amanda Cox at [email protected]. Volunteers should expect to be completely self-sufficient.
Current needs include gas for generators, personal protective equipment for volunteers, chain saw supplies, and cases of drinking water.
This article originally appeared in the Baptist Courier.
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