On Thursday, August 25, 2011, Hurricane Irene gathered steam and ran headlong toward the East Coast of the United States. Widespread coastal evacuations began early as the storm path prediction shifted precariously without a solid sense of where Irene would actually make landfall.
Below is a list of actions taken by the Virginia Baptist Mission Board in preparation for and response to this disaster.
Response Updates
Friday, November 18, 2011
4:15 P.M. – Over the weekend of November 18–19, 2012, the Virginia Baptist Disaster Relief ministry coordinated an effort to cut downed trees clean up debris from a neighborhood in New Kent County. This community was hit during Hurricane Iren, and suffered from a small tornado in mid-October. Over 70 volunteers came out over the two day period. Click here to open the news story aired on the local NBC affiliate.
Notification of activities were posted on the Disaster Relief Page on Facebook and archived here for historical purposes. Whether hands-on or clasped in prayer, our sincere thanks and appreciation to all those who supported with this response.
Monday, October 3, 2011
12:10 P.M. – Since Friday, September 23 VBMB Disaster Response has been responding to several unmet needs in Virginia and supporting operations in other states following the effects of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.
Mud Out Teams – One team has returned from Somerset, NJ and a second team departed Sunday, October 2nd for Bayboro, NC.
ACTION
DATE
TOTAL
VOLUNTEERS
VOLUNTEER
DAYS
JOBS
COMPLETED
MON (9/12/11)
6
6
2
TUE (9/13/11)
6
6
3
WED (9/14/11)
6
6
2
THU (9/15/11)
6
6
3
FRI (9/16/11)
6
6
1
TOTALS
6
30
11
NOTE: A second team is scheduled to depart Monday October 3rd. As of today that team consists of approximately 9 individuals.
Recovery Teams – Two chainsaw jobs in the greater Richmond area have been accomplished and 6 more homes have been assessed for a variety of needs. We are awaiting word from other agencies as to how to respond to these other needs. Several are very extensive projects that will require skilled labor and significant funding.
Feeding Teams – Two feeding teams were sent to Hazelton, PA to assist a site with two kitchens (SBCV and PA/NJ). A total of 18 volunteers are serving on this site.
ACTION
DATE
TOTAL
VOLUNTEERS
VOLUNTEER
DAYS
MEALS
PREPARED
SUN (9/18/11)
18
18
8,100
MON (9/19/11)
18
18
7,150
TUE (9/20/11)
18
18
6,550
WED (9/21/11)
18
18
6,000
THU (9/22/11)
18
18
5,500
FRI (9/23/11)
18
18
6,100
SAT (9/24/11)
11
11
3,675
SUN (9/25/11)
11
11
3,375
MON (9/26/11)
11
11
2,925
TUE (9/27/11)
9
9
2,275
TOTALS
38
150
51,650
A team of 4 traveled to Johnson City, NY on Thursday 9/22 to support a kitchen unit at Davis College. These four worked with an Alabama team, locals, and students from Liberty University.
ACTION
DATE
TOTAL
VOLUNTEERS
VOLUNTEER
DAYS
MEALS
PREPARED
FRI (9/23/11)
4
4
2,095
SAT (9/24/11)
4
4
2,420
SUN (9/25/11)
4
4
2,690
MON (9/26/11)
4
4
2,000
TUE (9/27/11)
4
4
1,660
TOTALS
4
20
51,650
Friday, September 23, 2011
5:00 P.M. – Since Friday, September 9, VBMB Disaster Response has been attempting to respond to a variety of needs in the states to the north of Virginia as they deal with the lingering effects of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.
Mud Out Teams – A mud out team consisting of one assessor, one chaplain and 4 volunteers departed Sunday September 11 for Somerset, NJ at the request of the Pennsylvania/South Jersey Convention and the North American Mission Board.
ACTION
DATE
TOTAL
VOLUNTEERS
VOLUNTEER
DAYS
JOBS
COMPLETED
MON (9/12/11)
6
6
2
TUE (9/13/11)
6
6
3
WED (9/14/11)
6
6
2
THU (9/15/11)
6
6
3
FRI (9/16/11)
6
6
1
TOTALS
6
30
11
NOTE: A second team is scheduled to depart Monday October 3rd. As of today that team consists of approximately 9 individuals.
Unmet Needs – We are working with several organizations to try and meet some of the unmet needs that are being discovered across the Commonwealth. Assessing 3 homes with hurricane damage as well as looking to remove some more trees that are downed.
Feeding Teams – A feeding team was sent to Hazelton, PA to assist a site with two kitchens (SBCV and PA/NJ). A total of 18 volunteers are serving on this site.
ACTION
DATE
TOTAL
VOLUNTEERS
VOLUNTEER
DAYS
MEALS
PREPARED
SUN (9/18/11)
18
18
8,100
MON (9/19/11)
18
18
7,150
TUE (9/20/11)
18
18
6,550
WED (9/21/11)
18
18
6,000
THU (9/22/11)
18
18
5,500
FRI (9/23/11)
18
18
6,100
TOTALS
18
108
39,400
A second team of approximately 14 volunteers is arriving Friday evening to prepare to cook on Saturday. A second kitchen requested assistance for volunteers in Johnson City, NY. A team of 2 left Thursday (9/22) and 2 additional volunteers left Friday (9/23). This team will be augmented by volunteers from Alabama as well as locals.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
9:00 A.M. –Virginia Baptist Disaster Relief Overview Video released in which VBMB's Disaster Relief coordinator, Dean Miller, provides an overview of Disaster Relief operations performed in partnership with the American Red Cross.
Video images were recorded before, during, and after Hurricane Irene swept across Virginia, and includes the familiar faces of volunteers supporting feeding operations at the Virginia Baptist Resource Center and St. Stephens Baptist Church.
Mud-Out Volunteers and Crisis Care Chaplains Needed for Hurricane Irene Relief
We are currently assembling teams of volunteers that can assist with recovery needs following Hurricane Irene. The needs at this time are only for mud-out volunteers and Crisis Care Chaplains. An exact location has not yet been determined but it will be a State within the New England area.
If you are available to respond within the next two weeks, please call the Disaster Relief hotline at 804.545.1212 or send an email to Disaster Relief.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
6:00 P.M. – Below is our Situation Report for the day as provided by Dean Miller, VBMB's Disaster Relief and Virginia Missions Coordinator:
Petersburg (two open requests remain with the coordinating body)
ACTION
DATE
TOTAL
VOLUNTEERS
JOBS
ASSESSED
JOBS
COMPLETED
SAT (9/3/11)
9
4
2
TOTALS
9
4
2
Other
Richmond County
Two shower units on site serving Power workers – VBMB and South Carolina. Both should stand down and be returned before end of the day Tuesday.
King and Queen County
The unit stood down and is returning before end of day today.
General
Both kitchens now closed. Units should be returned to home base by the end of the day on Tuesday.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
6:00 P.M. – Below is our Situation Report for the day as provided by Dean Miller, VBMB's Disaster Relief and Virginia Missions Coordinator:
St. Stephen’s Church (kitchen remains open until further notice)
St. Stephen’s kitchen was told to close at the end of the day today. We held a discussion about this and are planning to serve two more meals on Sunday and then close.
ACTION
DATE
TOTAL
VOLUNTEERS
AFTERNOON
MEALS
EVENING
MEALS
TOTAL
MEALS
SAT (9/3/11)
45
1,025
900
1,925
Richmond (kitchen closed at end of day, Friday, September 2)
Richmond kitchen and volunteers left the site. ARC picked up all supplies. US Food truck and forklift are all that remain.
Petersburg
VBMB completed two recovery jobs. Two others were assessed. One will need professionals due to the size of the tree leaning on the house. The other is a very large job and we could possibly be of some help once electrical wires are removed. We reported our findings to the SBCV who is serving as the coordinating body.
ACTION
DATE
TOTAL
VOLUNTEERS
JOBS
ASSESSED
JOBS
COMPLETED
SAT (9/3/11)
9
4
2
Other
Richmond County
Two shower units on site serving Power workers – VBMB and South Carolina.
King and Queen County
2 shower units – South Carolina.
Friday, September 2, 2011
6:00 P.M. – Below is our Situation Report for the day as provided by Dean Miller, VBMB's Disaster Relief and Virginia Missions Coordinator:
St. Stephen’s Church (kitchen remains open until further notice)
Changeover of volunteers was implemented. 25 volunteers are being sent to St. Stephen’s Church to replace those departing.
ACTION
DATE
TOTAL
VOLUNTEERS
AFTERNOON
MEALS
EVENING
MEALS
TOTAL
MEALS
FRI (9/2/11)
39
2,300
2,650
4,950
Richmond (kitchen closed at end of day)
ACTION
DATE
TOTAL
VOLUNTEERS
AFTERNOON
MEALS
EVENING
MEALS
TOTAL
MEALS
FRI (9/2/11)
30
1,550
1,550
3,100
Recovery
VBMB accepted two recovery jobs that will be completed on Saturday.
Other
Richmond County
Two shower units on site serving Power workers – VBMB and South Carolina.
King and Queen County
2 shower units – South Carolina.
General
Continuing to support the two kitchens from the DOC in Richmond.
PBS video broadcast from Faith and Ethics channel. See VBMB in action from 1:22–2:00 below, or open full article on Faith-Based Disaster Relief.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
6:00 P.M. – Below is our Situation Report for the day as provided by Dean Miller, VBMB's Disaster Relief and Virginia Missions Coordinator:
St. Stephen’s Church (kitchen remains open until further notice)
ACTION
DATE
TOTAL
VOLUNTEERS
AFTERNOON
MEALS
EVENING
MEALS
TOTAL
MEALS
THU (9/1/11)
40
3,350
1,940
5,290
Richmond (kitchen remains open until further notice)
ACTION
DATE
TOTAL
VOLUNTEERS
AFTERNOON
MEALS
EVENING
MEALS
TOTAL
MEALS
THU (9/1/11)
25
1,000
2,220
3,200
Recovery
No recovery operations are being handled by the VBMB at this time.
Other
Richmond County
Two shower units on site serving Power workers – VBMB and South Carolina.
King and Queen County
2 shower units – South Carolina.
General
Continuing to support the two kitchens from the DOC in Richmond. Plans are being discussed concerning the duration of this deployment and the current and future needs.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
5:00 P.M. – Below is our Situation Report for the day as provided by Dean Miller, VBMB's Disaster Relief and Virginia Missions Coordinator:
St. Stephen’s Church
After some equipment issues the meals were prepared and sent out on time. Meal count dropped for the morning but a new site was added I the afternoon.
ACTION
DATE
TOTAL
VOLUNTEERS
AFTERNOON
MEALS
EVENING
MEALS
TOTAL
MEALS
TUE (8/30/11)
40
6,930
Richmond
US Foods delivery was a little late but not critically.
ACTION
DATE
TOTAL
VOLUNTEERS
AFTERNOON
MEALS
EVENING
MEALS
TOTAL
MEALS
TUE (8/30/11)
22
4,750
Recovery
King and Queen County
Recovery Assessors have been stood down as have any pending teams. It appears that many of the jobs are clearing debris and small jobs. We will work on getting churches lined up to assist.
Other
Richmond County
A VBMB shower unit is on site; two units from South Carolina arrived today.
Brunswick County
Shower unit request to Brunswick County cancelled. A request for a shower unit for King and Queen County was received and is being fulfilled by one of the units for Brunswick County.
General
Conference Call – Held at 1:00 with NAMB leadership
Receiving calls from the DOC phone line and lining up volunteers for the second week of service. Approximately 25 volunteers are on standby to respond to the Feeding units next week should it become necessary.
A request for assistance to distribute water in Warsaw was handled by three churches (Farnham Baptist Church, Beale Memorial, Nomini Baptist Church).
Monday, August 29, 2011
4:30 P.M. – Below is our Situation Report for the day as provided by Dean Miller, VBMB's Disaster Relief and Virginia Missions Coordinator:
St. Stephen’s Church
US Foods made the delivery to the St. Stephen’s Kitchen and that site is fully staffed and functioning. A shower unit from Blackwater Association arrived and was set up to support the volunteers. All leadership in place. One meal went out after noon.
ACTION
DATE
TOTAL
VOLUNTEERS
AFTERNOON
MEALS
EVENING
MEALS
TOTAL
MEALS
MON (8/29/11)
39
5,759
Richmond Unit was set up and ready to serve by 9:00 a.m. Food was purchased from Sam’s Club and the first meal went out before noon. The second meal was done and out by 6:00 p.m. An order was placed with US Foods and delivery is scheduled for early Tuesday morning.
ACTION
DATE
TOTAL
VOLUNTEERS
AFTERNOON
MEALS
EVENING
MEALS
TOTAL
MEALS
MON (8/29/11)
14
7,400
Recovery
King and Queen County
Paul McDaniel and David Burgess drove through King and Queen and Richmond Counties to discover needs. Not much was discovered as of yet but they are planning to have significant conversations in the morning.
Other
Richmond County
VBMB shower unit was deployed and set up. Two additional units from South Carolina were requested and are being deployed tomorrow.
Brunswick County
Two shower units were requested and VBMB contacted NAMB for assistance. Two shower units from South Carolina will be deployed to the area tomorrow.
General
Conference Call – Held at 1:00 with NAMB leadership Conference Call – Held at 3:00 with VA VOAD
We are receiving calls from the DOC phone line and lining up volunteers for the second week of service, and an Advance Notice Special Edition was sent out.
A lively video edited to music fittingly entitled The Cannery was also released as an encapsulation of the first day's events at the Virginia Baptist Resource Center.
5:00 P.M. – Dean and Nichole opened the Disaster Operations Center (DOC) at 10:00 a.m. and monitored the situation in Virginia and across the northern states.
At 10:30 the Feeding unit that was put on alert by the state of Virginia to serve the State Managed Shelters was stood down. The shelters were not opened.
Conference Call held at 4:00 with NAMB leadership.
A request for a shower unit for Richmond County was received and accepted. The unit will provide showers for the power company workers who will be working in the county. One shower unit has been delivered to Warsaw (by David and Paul).
A request for volunteers to off load truck of water in Warsaw was received and accepted. Eddie Heath is helping to recruit volunteers to unload two trailers full of water. Volunteers and trucks will arrive on site in the morning and assist with this need.
Feeding unit activated by the American Red Cross (ARC) at 11:00 to serve King and Queen County. Contact was made with the Emergency Manager (EM) of the county and the appropriate plans were made to activate the unit. The location of St. Stevens Baptist Church was chosen and approved by the local EM and the church.
St. Stephens Church, VA
White Hat – Lloyd Jackson (arriving tomorrow morning around 7am)
Feeding Blue Hat – Marie Lawrence (on-site tomorrow at 7am…unpacking the kitchen and then preparing one meal tomorrow)
Currently she has 19 volunteers confirmed that will arrive tomorrow morning. If additional volunteers are needed, we will assist with recruiting.
Kitchen is being delivered by Paul, Patrick, Ron Gilbert, and David Burgess. Paul and David will stay at St. Stephens tonight. Patrick and Ron will return to Richmond and house at the VBRC (slumber partay!).
Recovery Blue Hat – Paul McDaniel and David Burgess. Roanoke recovery unit is currently on site.
Shower Unit – Blackwater shower unit is being delivered by Nancy Greene tomorrow
Food – US Foods will drop the food trailers around 5am…Paul and David will coordinate that delivery
Richmond, VA
At approximately 4:30 a request was received and accepted by the ARC for a feeding unit to provide meals to five counties south of Richmond (Prince George, Dinwiddie, Surry, Brunswick, Sussex). The ARC inadvertently promised noon meals to these counties before securing the actual meals.
It was decided that the only way to meet this request was to set up the feeding unit at the Virginia Baptist Resource Center (VBRC) and the ARC would have to deliver the meals a further distance. This plan was put into motion with approval from the ARC and forgiveness from the VBMB leadership.
Dinwiddie, VA
White Hat – Patrick Johnson
Feeding Blue Hat – Patrick Johnson will be supervising on-site training of Ed Todd
Currently there are 12 volunteers confirmed for this response…at this time, that should be enough volunteers
Food, for the first day, will be purchased from Sam’s Club. Hopefully a US Food order will be filled after the first day.
Shower Unit – The Fredericksburg unit which is currently located on the lot will serve these volunteers.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
5:00 P.M. – After nearly a week of preparations VBMB Disaster Relief is fully prepared to respond. All office and other equipment in the office is ready.
Alert Status
Advance Logistics
2 feeding Units
1 chainsaw Unit
2 Flood Recovery Units
1 Communications Unit
Crisis Care Chaplaincy
All units listed above are completely staffed with approximately 75 volunteers on alert to respond within 12 hours of receiving a call.
Conference Call held at 10:00 with VBMB leadership on Saturday 8/27. Implementation plans were confirmed and scenarios were discussed.
One feeding unit was placed on standby by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to prepare meals for two State managed Shelters that may be opened by the State.
At 7:00 p.m. all of our feeding units were placed on standby by the North American Mission Board via the American Red Cross.
The storm passed overnight with hundreds of thousands without power, downed trees, flooding and other issues.
We await assessment opportunities and being called out on Sunday.
Friday, August 26, 2011
9:00 A.M. –Online Donations for Hurricane Irene are being requested. Your designated gifts are reserved for this disaster, our genral fund, and any other response and recovery efforts you specify. Thanks in advance for your personal and financial contributions to this ministry!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
3:00 P.M. – VBMB's Disaster Response teams of certified volunteers gear-up.
VBMB Disaster Relief ministries are supported by gifts to the Baptist General Association of Virginia’s Cooperative Missions budget, the Alma Hunt Offering for Virginia Missions, and individual donations specifically designated for Disaster Relief.
Your support through prayers for the victims and volunteers, as well as designated donations to the "VBMB Disaster Relief" ministry are greatly appreciated.
P.S. Want to help in times of crisis?
Sign-up for our upcoming Disaster Relief Training and become a certified volunteer!
