By Jeff Brumley
The Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship announced today they will host a major disaster-recovery campaign in August for tornado-battered Oklahomans.
“Loving Oklahoma” will be held Aug. 5-10 in five areas in the Oklahoma City area that were devastated by tornadoes that struck in May.
Planners with CBF Disaster Response and BGCT Disaster Recovery say the idea is to attract at least 1,000 volunteers to conduct debris removal and some home rebuilding projects.
One of the communities to be helped is a mobile-home community near Moore, where only seven of 150 homes survived the May 20 twister, said Marla Bearden, disaster recovery specialist with the BGCT.
In that area, volunteers will help construct small homes in conjunction with World Vision. Most of the residents there are uninsured or underinsured, Bearden said.
Unlike the similarly named event in West, Texas, last month, “Loving Oklahoma” will not include any demolition projects, she added.
CBF Disaster Response Coordinator Tommy Deal said arrangements are being made to register and house 1,000 volunteers for the weeklong effort. Organizers are hoping that church groups and other ministries will find the time and motivation to participate, he said.