NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Twenty-seven volunteers from First Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., traveled three hours to Nashville in three shifts during the week of May 15-20 for flood relief. They were one of countless groups pitching in as response to record flooding April 20-May 2 shifted from crisis to recovery mode.
Carol McEntyre, director of community ministries at First Baptist Church of Knoxville, Tenn., removes carpet from a flooded home.
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Carol McEntyre, director of community ministries at the Knoxville church in partnership with Buckner Baptist Benevolences in Texas, was part of a group in town two days to help three different families contacted through First Baptist Church in Nashville. One had 10 feet of water in their neighborhood and had to be rescued from the second floor of their home.
"They were so grateful for the help," McEntyre said May 19. "I wanted to help, particularly through First Nashville, because they are our brothers and sisters in Christ, just three hours down the road," she said, "our neighbors in need."
Tom Crow, executive pastor at First Baptist Church in Nashville, said May 19 the congregation has already hosted teams from Georgetown College in Kentucky and the University of Tennessee and was expecting teams from Georgia and North Carolina later in the week.
Crow said more than 200 volunteers from within the congregation have donated about 1,500 man-hours of free labor so far in flood relief. That is in addition to $10,000 in cash donations and gift cards to businesses like Home Depot, Lowe's, Wal-Mart and Kroger.
Crow said 1,300 people attending a May 17-21 Festival of Homiletics at the church would also be volunteering about 250 hours while in Nashville. Many brought water donations, bringing the total of water bottles donated to the church to more than 25,000.
Crow said First Baptist's first response was to contact each of the 2,200 members and families of the church to see if they were OK. Those needing help were offered volunteer teams to come to their homes to help remove drywall, flooring, damaged appliances and furniture, along with boxing and hauling belongings to storage and assistance with transportation and housing.
Church members canvassed several neighborhoods hit hard by flooding, including Bellevue, a middle-class neighborhood a few miles west of downtown where hundreds of homes were submerged. According to the Tennesee Baptist and Reflector newspaper, about half of the members of Bellevue Baptist Church were flood victims.
Volunteers Andy Edmonson (left) and Link Hudson from First Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., dispose of ruined carpet removed from a home in Nashville.
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"One lesson we've learned this week is how fragile our material things are," Bellevue Pastor Mike Shelton said in his sermon May 9. Shelton said in the many homes he visited during the week, he heard people say over and over "Save my pictures" — but not a single person who said, "Save my big-screen TV."
"The most important things to rebuild are things we already have," Shelton said, "faith, hope and love."
Though some of the hardest-hit areas were in or around Nashville, the flooding was widespread across the state. A total of 45 Tennessee counties have qualified for federal disaster relief. Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief had dispatched 14 flood-recovery units across the state. At one point a unit in Nashville was feeding more than 13,000 people a day staying in shelters.
Two weeks after the flood more than 31,000 Tennesseans had registered for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Nearly 12,000 had already received awards, with the number expected to rise as word spread of FEMA disaster-recovery centers opening around the area.
Regular homeowners' and renters' insurance does not cover flood damage, and the vast majority of flooded homeowners did not have flood insurance, because their houses were located outside of a flood plain.
Particularly vulnerable, Crow said, are the elderly, many of whom have lived in the same home for decades and lack the means to rebuild.
Crow said the greatest immediate needs are for skilled assistance to begin reconstruction — drywall installers, carpenters, electricians and plumbers — and financial assistance through many organizations collecting cash and gift-card donations.
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.