YONKERS, N.Y. – Missouri Baptists are scrambling to bring hot food to victims still without power or transportation following Hurricane Sandy.
“It’s bad,” said Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) Disaster Relief (DR) Director Dwain Carter.
The strong storm has claimed at least 88 lives in the United States. It caused upwards of $55 billion in property damage and left millions without power across 15 states.
Fifty-five volunteers from various Missouri Baptist churches headed to the northeast Nov. 2, following the convoy of two MBC DR mobile kitchens hauled by semis – each capable of prepping 35,000 hot meals a day – seven pickup trucks, three shower trailers and a power generation unit. They will join DR units and volunteers from nearly every state with a DR presence to help feed victims. Mud-out, chainsaw and child care units are on standby.
Carter said the duration of the response is indefinite, but he expects it to be at least two weeks. Every mobile disaster relief kitchen east of the Rocky Mountains has been asked to prepare to come.
“They’re asking for 450,000 meals a day,” he said.
Carter said Missouri Baptists can “pray, give and go.”
“Pray for the victims, obviously,” he said. “But the biggest prayer request I have is praying against spiritual warfare. Pray for safety in travel and the volunteers as they do their work.”
The North American Mission Board has been focusing on planting churches in the northeast, and Carter said the DR response may lay some of the groundwork for a church planting movement.
“What better way to get the word out that Southern Baptists are real people who want to love you,” he asked.
Missouri Baptists and others who want to donate to the Disaster Relief operations can mail checks payable to the MBC at
400 E. High St., Jefferson City, MO 65101, with Disaster Relief in the memo line. Donations are also accepted online at www.mobaptist.org/mbcdr.