Homeward Bound. . .

I walk away from San Diego tomorrow morning and head home. For the most part SD seems to be moving forward well. We are eager to move on to the next phase of service delivery. Going home to home and making life a little better for people who have lost a lot.
I was out in Ramona today with Savita and Corky from Hilltop. We had a very good meeting with Dave Ash from the Ramona Church. We had 50 cots delivered by the Red Cross along with blankets. We are in need of a shower trailer if anyone knows someone with one.

I will post more tomorrow. . .

I am ready to see my dear family and my brothers and sisters in Christ.

may the lord bless you,

Buddy Gray

San Diego Fires Day 6

We (Wayne and I) continued working at HQ today. It is apparent the Red Cross has plenty of people on this job. Today the Damage assesment crews hit the road to determine the extent of the relief dollars to help the people of San diego County.

Ramona, CA is the site of the Hilltop Rescue and Relief push to help in this event. The Ramona church of Christ is the staging area. This little church of 30 is ready to reach out to their community. They have opened up their building and their lives for the next 90+ days. Hilltop has a video interview on their website. Wayne and I visted the area where the interviews were conducted. There is a great need for the hands of Christ to arrive in this area and work. Look at your hands and see if yours are the ones some person who lost their home needs to help them recover from the loss of a home and then find Jesus Christ.

Here is a copy of the list from Hilltop that are their and ours needs for this effort.


VOLUNTEER AND LEADER FACILITIES
Trailers for long term volunteers 4
Sleeping cots 50
Hand washing stations 2
Port-o-let facility 4
Large garbage cans 7
Large dining table 8’ 2
Folding chairs 50

COOKING FACILITIES, SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT
Large ice chests 4
Warming oven 1
Garbage bags 70 ct. 10

OFFICE FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT
Office trailer 1
Printer 1
Copier 1
Computer and monitor 1
Leadership notebook computer 1
Portable hard drive 1
Badge machine 1
Satellite equipment 1
Wireless router 1

VEHICLES
15 Passenger vans 2
Full size work truck 1
Covered work trailers 2

OPERATING EQUIPMENT
Washing machine 1
Dryer 1
Computers (for volunteers and victims) 2
Printer 1
Telecom software and equipment 2
Power supplies and misc. 2
Chain saws 2
Shovels (scoop) 8
Shovels (square) 8
Hoes 2
Sledge hammers 4
Wheelbarrows 8
Tool Boxes 2
Misc. tools to fill boxes 2
Large crow bars 2

MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Large first aid kit 1
Fire extinguishers 2
Fire hose 1
Small first aid kit 2
Power strips 4
PA equipment 1
50’ extension cords 5
Video projector 1
Jacks and spares for vehicles and trailers 5

MISCELLANEOUS MAINTENANCE AND REFRESHMENT
Chains saws (sharpen/oil/replace) 2

The needs can be met by in kind donations or with cash sent to Hilltop.


Buddy Gray

Firestorm work day 5

Today I worked out of headquarters with Wayne Smith doing special assignments. The nature of this emergency caused some mass confusion and alot of information was lost. Wayne was put in charge of finding the information and bringing it back to headquarters. Once that was completed we went to the closed staff shelter and helped close it down. The cots were scrubbed, rinsed, dryed, folded and boxed for future disasters. All 800 of them. Luckily we had 25 other people helping.
We surveyed the damage in Ramona today and conferenced called with Hilltop. What a great group they are. Ramona will be the target of the work the response team now we will establish where the work camp will be. If you can take time off work start looking for time off, we will try to be in Ramona from Nov 3- Nov. 10th.
The damage there is much different from Katrina, but from the sounds of things was frightening in its own way.

Buddy Gray

San Diego Firestorm Day 4. . .

The community of Poway is getting back to normal. Most of the people at our shelter were gone by the time we arrived at 5:30 a.m. this morning. Today we spent the early part of the day cleaning and saying good bye to our friends in Poway. We develop a bond with the LDV's everytime we enter a community andwwork at a shelter. Sheila the tireless worker, whose kitchen we used in the shelter was a great volunteer with a lot of heart. Her boy friend has cancer and is undergoing chemo, pray for him when you can spare the time. Greg, Crystal, and June from the City of Poway were great to work with. Greg and his family were displaced for three days and finally found out their house was OK. Belinda also with the city was great to work with. All in all the City of Poway people were great to work with. Their outpouring of love and service was overwhelming. One day we had over 300 volunteers while only having 120 shelter residents. Right now I am working with our own Wayne Smith. Wayne got me and nine other people a job working with HQ this afternoon. Wayne is a great asset, today he wore his Team Red T-shirt.

We are going to try to go to Ramona, CA to check out the need for a response. We are going to meet with Kevin Wise and attempt to come up with a way to honor God in this community. Pray for us as we prepare to bring the message through hands on service. I am worn out and need to get some rest.

I miss my wife, my son and all my brothers and sisters in Christ. I am praying for all of you.


Buddy

Community Response Team Alert

If you are interested in doing relief work here is some information.

We are considering a trip the starting the week of November 3 - November 10. If you are intereted please email me. I am somewhat busy before 6 pm if you call call after 7:00 p.m.

We have talked to Hilltop and are trying to gear up. More Info tomorrow.

Buddy Gray

San Diego Fires Report 3 . . .

Tonight I am writing from a hotel room. I feel guilty about leaving the shelter people behind and coming to an ocean side hotel. This is just a reminder of how it is so real for the individuals who have lost so much, and yet just a temporary event for me. We have seen many great acts of kindness and blessing during this event. People offering all kinds of aid, from housing to catering food for the whole shelter. We have also seen the other side of the coin. The City we are working in gave us 48 hours to vacate their senior center today. We still have over 100 people staying with us with no place to live . Our hope is that the city will rethink their position tonight and allow us to stay until the people from Ramona can go home. I beseech your prayers for God to change their minds.
Dr. Bennie Cisek has put together an excellent medical facilty at our shelter. He was waiting at Qualcom to find some people to help. He came and put together a fully functional medical triage place in a matter of hours. My hat is off to him. He has blessed many lives with his work at the shelter. Its 10:30pm, I have been up since 430am. Pray that God will continue to energize me for His work.

Buddy Gray

San Diego Fires Report #2

The transition from city shelter to Red Cross shelter was the work of the day. We rearranged the set up and added some more services. Poway did a great service to their citizens with the shelter. Alot of excitement with two heart attacks by clients and one slip and fall. Three trips to the hospital in one day for our clients. Everbody survived. Thanks for the prayers. . . It looks like this will be home for a few days.

Hilltop is gearing up and has asked us to partner in a project to be named in the near future. Start lining up vacation and get ready to roll. Team Red is on stand by.

Only 2 hrs sleep in two days. Time for bed. Pray for the fires to end! Pray for God to Reign in the hearts of the people.

Buddy Gray

San Diego Fires

I am writing from Poway, CA just north of San Diego about twenty miles. The shelter that is operating is being run by the city. The Red Cross has flown me in and I am already at work. Pray for us as we figure out what the needs are for the people in San Diego. Hilltop is trying to assess and figure out whatt their response is going to be in the next few days. As they make decisions I will keep you informed. They may be in need of using some of our equipment and we may need people to work with them in the near future. Everything is very fluid and changing as we speak. The coming days will tell what the needs will be. Pray for the people of San Diego County.

Buddy

Family Promise

We are past half-way on this turn for Family Promise. The families are good people trying to get past a bd place in their lives. The program is a no-brainer for a church group. We get to live out Jesus' for these people for one week. We provide food, shelter and drink, 24/7 for a week. We have had over seventy members invloved in the program so far. Most of the people are here for there small group and provide support service from a distance for the people. 5 couples stay over night. The night portion is the easiest, you show and sleep. Have you ever thought about serving God while sleeping? These people have a roof over their head for a night because a few people leave their homes and come to the church building for a night. The sacrifice is not much, but the benefit for the people in the program is great.

serving Him,

Buddy

The Cross and the Towers/ Family Promise

The movie night was an overwhelming success. We had a good crowd for The Cross and the Towers and The Wizard of Ha's. It is always incredible to see so many guests in our building at one time. Many got to hear an inspiring message concerning the Living Message of Jesus Christ. Over 30 visitor families were in the Veggietales premier. Pray that we continue to have fruit from events like this.

Family Promise, a coalition of local Modesto Churches that provide services to displaced familes has come to Davis Park. We are having our first rotation since the re-start a couple of months ago. We have 3 great familes that we are working with this week. Pray for them to find jobs. . . and housing.

Buddy