The Missouri Baptist Convention says its volunteers helping with hurricane relief work will serve about 20,000 meals a day. Tamara Parry tells Missourinet the organization has 60 volunteers lending a hand for about ten days.
Photo courtesy of Missouri Task Force One
“I would estimate that we’re going to be through a couple hundred volunteers by the time it’s all said and done just because the potential for this recovery is probably going to be months,” says Parry.
The organization has about 1,400 total disaster relief volunteers. It has shower trailers and childcare volunteers in the hurricane region. Parry says the childcare unit creates a safe place for kids.
“It just allows the parents a place to drop kids off so they can go handle grown-up adult things that come along with these sort of disasters,” says Parry. “They’ve got to deal with life. They’ve got to deal with insurance.”
Once the flooding recedes enough, another group of the organization’s volunteers will do some very physical work.
“They’ll strip flooring. They’ll rip out dry wall and get all that where it can get somewhat dried out,” says Parry. “Then they will treat it with a mold treatment to prevent mold. So that way these people are ready to come back in and rebuild.”
Other chainsaw-wielding volunteers will clean up tree debris.
The outpouring of support from around the country is overwhelming for those on the ground in a disaster region. Parry says besides volunteer time, the best thing to do to help with these types of causes is to give monetary donations to reputable organizations.