Texas Baptist Men volunteers help Arkansas recover after deadly storms
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (CBSNewsTexas.com) — The disaster relief group Texas Baptist Men deploys teams of volunteers around the country and the world when disaster strikes.
Now, they're on the ground in Arkansas helping communities recover after deadly tornadoes ripped through the South and Midwest yesterday.
Bright and early on Saturday morning, teams of Texas Baptist Men volunteers hit the road and headed to Little Rock to assess the damage and begin to help residents rebuild their lives.
"I was driving back from Rolling Fork, Mississippi and friends and ministry partners in Arkansas called me," said Rand Jenkins, a spokesperson for Texas Baptist Men. "They said we have one on the ground and another tornado was forming around there."
A tornado ripped through the Little Rock area tearing roofs off buildings and homes, flipping cars, and injuring dozens of people.
"The devastation... is just as bad as a tornado can get," said Jenkins.
When a tornado this powerful hits a densely populated area, Jenkins explains, the organization first sends in incident command teams.
The teams provide "much needed structure and assistance after disaster hits." explained Jenkins. "But we also follow that up very quickly with chainsaw teams, feeding teams, shower, laundry, and temporary roofs - that's one of the biggest things in Mississippi and one of the biggest things we've started right now in Arkansas. There's a lot of work to be done."
Not only will volunteers work to remove fallen trees and large pieces of debris, they will also prepare up to 3,000 hot meals each day for people in need.
Some volunteers just lend a listening ear during people's darkest moments.
"What drives all of us is simply love; people are in hurting situations, and we are there to provide comfort for them," said Jenkins.
And they have crews at the ready here in Texas if disaster or tornados strike at home.
"We want to be there right from the beginning."
Texas Baptist Men will dispatch another team of volunteers to Arkansas on Monday morning. If you'd like to support the work they're doing on the ground in Arkansas and around the country you can head to their website.