Baptists gear up to prepare 600,000 meals a day as Gustav nears

by Adam Miller

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief leaders have placed units throughout the nation on alert as they make plans to prepare 600,000 meals a day after Gustav makes landfall.

“But hope for the best,” says Mickey Caison, director of NAMB's adult mobilization team.

The organizations’ requests for feeding capacity has now doubled from 310,000 meals per day to more than 600,000 as the Gulf Coast braces for the possibility of a Category 4 Gustav, which now is teetering between tropical storm and hurricane status and moving slowly toward the Gulf but picking up power.

Some 113 of 115 Southern Baptist Disaster Relief feeding units have been put on alert to mobilize along the Gulf Coast states a day or two in the wake of hurricane landfall.

Even as Republicans gear up to gather in Minneapolis and Tropical Storm Hanna threatens to churn up the east coast, a still-wounded Gulf Coast is already smarting with anticipation of what Gustav could do.

Several larger shelters are at ready in Texas where four Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief feeding units have deployed. Other sites will be determined as landfall nears.

Most shelter areas will likely be stationed in Texas, northern Louisiana and Jackson, Miss.

Because of revised evacuation plans post Katrina, most shelter and feeding will take place further away from disaster locations, though SBDR recovery units still will move in to clear roadways and, later, affected communities.

Many Gulf Coast areas will evacuate this weekend. New Orleans has planned for a mandatory evacuation and is bringing in busses for 30,000 people who lack transportation. Places as far north as Oklahoma City are preparing for as many as 2,500 evacuees.

As SBDR coordinators work with local, state and federal agencies to determine the extent of damage and the need following the storm, most SBDR units will be assigned to the states they managed following Katrina.

Tropical Storm Hanna continues to track toward the Bahamas, putting a number of SBDR units on alert in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia, in case that storm takes a northward turn. Those conventions will divide their resources between affected areas depending on severity.

“While we may not be able to utilize entire units, we can make use of volunteers from several units to help fill in and replenish and time and need require,” says Terry Henderson, NAMB’s Disaster Relief Consultant.

The Illinois and Minnesota-Wisconsin Disaster Relief Units are staying in place in case needs arise related to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, but will join up with coastal efforts later.

“As soon as we can get the wind down low enough to travel we’ll go in,” said Caison, adding that volunteers already are preparing food at pre-event shelters in Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas.

With 85,000 trained disaster relief volunteers and 1,500 disaster relief units, Southern Baptists are among the three largest disaster relief organizations in the nation. Each state Baptist convention funds and organizes Disaster Relief work in their state with the North American Mission Board providing national coordination and communication between Southern Baptists and national disaster relief organizations and government representatives.

For the latest information about Southern Baptist disaster relief efforts related to Gustav, visit www.namb.net.

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