Thank you for all who have served on the feeding units in Picayune, MS and DeRidder and Slidell, LA over the past few weeks. Virginia Baptists' response has been and continues to be a blessing to many people.

Recovery unit volunteers (no training required) are also needed for debris removal and clean-up efforts in Louisiana, Mississippi and possibly Texas. To volunteer or to receive more information, call 1-800-ALL-BGAV (255-2428).

We have received many calls asking what is being done through our Association. We are asking folks to stay abreast of what our state and national conventions are saying. The word from both the BGAV and SBCV (and even Samaritan's Purse and the Red Cross) is to send money first. Reports have come in that tell of idle stockpiles of some donated goods, because these were sent without careful coordination or arrived where they were no longer in demand. Money sent will be used to buy EXACTLY what is needed when it is needed.

For your part, help us make a contact list of those who you know are willing to join in when the time is right, and get that to the SBA office. As we see things develop we will help all of these volunteers get in touch with the state efforts. Hopefully, schedules will fit so that we can send multiple SBA volunteer teams to work with the state and national relief groups. Unless we follow closely receiving agency guidelines, we should not attempt to put together our own care packages to truck in at this time.

More people (both trained and untrained) will be needed as the days and weeks progress. Be patient, wait for the nod from our conventions, and then let's plug in with what they are doing. We are not going to do a Strawberry effort unless it is directly tied into what our conventions are leading in. In other words, we'll not try to be the Lone Ranger.

Check our Website "www.sbava.org" frequently for the latest news and links to ways you and your church can help.

Below we have provided direct links to some of the agencies recruiting volunteers and channeling monetary donations.

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

North American Mission Board

Red Cross

Samaritans Purse

Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia

Virginia Baptist Mission Board

Some of the cleanup units are starting to organize with a bit more haste, now that some of the feeding emergency is passing. We will be sending out more teams from our Association in the weeks to come, so please encourage those who are interested in cleanup, debris and tree removal, and some roof patching and home repair to get ready. They can get us their names and available dates by e-mailing to sba@sbava.org. Leave a name and number and we will call you as soon as we can about details.

Folks, this is as if we are walking down the road to Jericho and an injured man lies dying in the ditch. We can walk on past telling ourselves and God that we can't help today, because we have ministry and programs going on here that need to be taken care of. Our priestly and church responsibilities blind us to the needs of our neighbor. Or we can respond like the Samaritan did. Not only did he bandage the man's wounds and give him food and drink, he placed him upon his own donkey, took him to an inn for shelter, and then paid for all of it out of his own pocket. Do you have any doubt who Jesus was speaking of and what He was commanding when He spoke that powerful parable 2000 years ago? Who is your neighbor?

As long as is necessary, there will continue to be training classes offered in various parts of the state so that fresh personnel can replace those having served. The next one is Saturday, October 22, 1-4 p.m. in Richmond, Virginia at Monument Heights Baptist Church. Reservations are required by calling the church, 804-282-5271 and the cost is $10 per person which covers the hat, shirt and identification card.

Please click here for a PDF file of some orientation notes. It is about 1Mb in size. This includes basic guidelines and "what-to-take" info. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader (free from adobe.com) in order to read.

A number of our folks from various churches have already served. Many others from Strawberry have called expressing interest in helping. We are encouraging folks to call our office to leave names and numbers, and as we communicate with state and national organizations we will try to put together teams according to schedules. This way all those from our area can travel and work together during the week that best suits them. Generally, volunteers are expected to spend at least one week on the field. It is possible to stay longer, but trips of just a few days are discouraged.

We expect that by early October untrained teams will be heading south in larger numbers to help with the gigantic task of clean-up and recovery. As shared before, these are the volunteers doing the grunt work of mudouts, tree and debris removal, and emergency patching of homes, where possible.

Thanks for your continued prayers and involvement in this national emergency. Please pray that our folks will not grow weary or forget what is happening after a few weeks or months. This is a long-term need that will require all of us working together to the glory of God. Call or e-mail if we can help with any further information.

Our Baptist efforts at housing refugees at Eagle Eyrie is now on hold. There have been so many changes at FEMA, the governor's office, and with officials in the south that we are uncertain of just how many will now need to seek housing assistance in Virginia. Should this housing need materialize, we are ready to serve where needed.

Other important suggestions from the North American Mission Board (NAMB) follow.
Adopt A Church—We are asking healthy and blessed SBC congregations across North America to adopt SBC congregations that have been badly damaged or destroyed. This will be a commitment of anywhere between one to two years. All manner of help will be needed: mission trips, rebuilding trips, care packages, appropriate financial support, and encouragement for the staff who have been through numerous challenges. In addition, many other creative ideas for help and encouragement are as yet to be birthed! We have already begun to work with the affected state conventions to link churches in this great Body-building effort for Kingdom growth. No church is too small to participate in this effort. Because of the massive destruction to the church buildings and the huge needs of the congregations, it will take multiple partnerships to assist each church.