JACKSON, Miss. (Special) – Mississippi Baptist Disaster Relief (MBDR) has received a request from Florida Baptists to mobilize in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, which is wreaking massive damage as it moves across the peninsula today.
“Florida Baptist Disaster Relief (FBDR) has requested our assistance in a yet-to-be-determined location with a full service response – 10,000-12,000 meals per day, incident management team, chaplaincy, damage assessment, and chainsaw crews,” reported Hubert Yates, disaster relief director for the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board.
“Deployment timing is currently flexible but possibly as early as Sunday, October 2. We will be providing service to a geographic area, most likely a county, in central or south Florida,” Yates said.
“MBDR will be joining two sites operated by FBDR, one site operated by Tennessee and Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief, one site operated by Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief, one site operated by North Carolina Baptist Relief, and one site operated by Texas Baptist Men.”
All eight sites will be full service sites providing feeding and cleanup in assigned areas, Yates said. Direct feeding through local church connections will occur in more rural areas, while some feeding services will be in support of The Salvation Army and American Red Cross delivery systems in more urban areas.
Yates issued a call for available credentialed MBDR volunteers to begin signing up for Florida duty by e-mailing dvail@mbcb.org or calling (601) 292-3335. For general information about credentialing and volunteering click here.
“Length of MBDR service in Florida will be determined by damage assessments; most likely two to four weeks,” Yates said.
