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Media outlets take note of SBC disaster relief efforts |
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Some mainstream media outlets have given Southern Baptists a chance to explain their motivation for leaving home to help people in great distress along the Texas coastline following Hurricane Ike.
In South Carolina, for example, The State newspaper in Columbia ran a story about the South Carolina Baptist Convention deploying disaster relief teams to Texas. The newspaper said about 200 trained volunteers from the disaster relief group have been sent "to help with cleanup, serve meals, provide clean clothing and offer emotional support" to those affected by Ike.
The State noted that 18 of the South Carolina convention's 118 volunteer teams will be stationed in Pasadena, Texas, near Galveston, and the newspaper explained that the teams are divided into service areas "including mass feeding teams, chain-saw teams, cleanup teams, shower teams and laundry. Each group also has a crisis intervention chaplain available."
For South Carolina residents who aren't familiar with Southern Baptist work, the local newspaper helped get the message out.
"We go as a servant of the Lord," Brent Dantzler of Harleyville said.
Dantzler has been involved in disaster relief work through the state convention for six years and has responded to about a dozen disasters, The State reported. His team members range in age from 20 to 81 years old, and they help meet victims' emotional needs as well as physical needs.
"You want to help them to look at the long term to know that there is hope," Dantzler told The State. "I know there are a lot of hurting people ...
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