Nationwide Winter Storm Pushes Disaster Response To A Local Focus

NASHVILLE — Until temperatures rise high enough and long enough to make roads more accessible, response to a winter storm stretching from Texas to the Northeast is going to have a more local focus, Southern Baptist leaders told Baptist Press on Monday.

“Send Relief is responding in different ways, alongside supporting Southern Baptist Disaster Relief in those states,” said Josh Benton, Send Relief’s vice president for North American ministry efforts.

Five of Send Relief’s ministry centers – Memphis, Atlanta, St. Louis, Boston and Appalachia, in Ashland, Ky. — are impacted by the snow and ice. Those centers serve upwards of 40,000 people annually and are currently focused on feeding efforts and serving as warming shelters, said Benton.

“Our St. Louis center is located in the Ferguson community and been a warming center. They’re seeing an increased volume of people needing support. Ashland, Memphis and Boston have not been able to open yet because of accessibility, but hopefully they can start up by the end of the day to provide the same assistance.”

Send Relief’s Chicago and New York City centers are operational and reported no extra ministry requests due to the snow, Benton added.

The storm preceded temperatures remaining well below zero in many places. And where they didn’t, refreezing on roads will happen overnight.

The storm’s impact in Mississippi can be seen on a map through PowerOutage.us. That state’s Disaster Relief director, Hubert Yates, said ice damage in the northeast corner could lead to long-term outages.

“We are releasing teams in impacted areas for local debris cleanup and chainsaw work,” he said. “There are no-travel areas, but as conditions improve, our teams will be working and assessing the needs for operational sites and deployment.”

Executive Director Shawn Parker said Mississippi Baptist churches are “capable and creative when it comes to ministering in challenging circumstances.”

“We have local DR teams already activated to minister as they can, and teams from areas not impacted are ready to roll in as soon as travel is safe,” he said. “I’m confident the Lord is going to bless this response and touch a lot of people with the gospel. I’m incredibly thankful for all our DR volunteers who are always ready to go when the need arises.”

Yates expects MBDR to have a larger response in a day or two, focusing on secluded areas.

“Right now, it’s a lot of neighbors helping neighbors,” he said. “We want to be where the needs exist and people can’t do it for themselves.”

Disaster Relief teams from Alabama, Florida and Georgia are on standby, Yates added, with others making themselves available.

At least 17 deaths have been attributed to the storm, and more than 700,000 people are without power. More than 230,000 of those are in Tennessee. Over 12,000 flights were cancelled Sunday, to go with more than 4,000 today.

Send Relief is ready to assist Disaster Relief teams as needed. Power outages and accessibility can determine Send Relief centers serving “at an increased scale,” said Benton.

“If they need more food or generators, we’ll be sure and get those supplies out. We also ‘pre-stage’ supplies at many of our ministry centers,” he said. “So, those centers have additional food in case something like this [storm] happens. They’re ready to meet immediate needs.”

Previous responses have also helped with current preparation and built ministry relationships.

“St. Louis has seen its fair share of flooding and tornadoes in recent years,” Benton said. “Because we have ongoing ministry there supporting homeless and disadvantaged communities, we’ve been able to complement Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief and provide additional support. In particular, we’ve done a lot of work with the elderly in nursing homes and assisted living and found out pretty quickly how they are impacted by situations like these.”