Ike Relief Trip Pictures - Bridge City, TX

Pictures are from one of the first houses we worked on. Brian is sweeping, the Cowan Brothers are making quick work of demo sheetrock. Cindy Fox is working on taking sheet rock out.

Ike Trip concluded. . .

We had a great trip to the coast(Texas) doing storm relief. All of us are back and most of us are well. I will give an update on our only injury after I talk to the injured party today.

Wow! that's how I would describe the trip. Church of Christ Disaster Response Team is the finest organizations to work with. They are volunteer friendly, in that they have jobs lined up, supplies, shelter and tools. These folks are the real genuine people God wants them to be.

Mucking Houses, Distribution of Supplies, Moisture Testing, Warehousing, Counseling, Worshipping, Praying, Interviewing, Cooking, Food Service, Transportaion of Supplies, First Aid, Clothing Distribution, Ice Distribution and Bobcat operation.
These are the jobs that were undertaken by the Community Response Team and I am sure there were others.

I know that God allowed us to touch lives in Bridge City. He allowed us to work everyday from dawn to dusk.

It is good to be home. Thanks for helping us help others. I will start posting stories about people that we met along the way as I have time.

Ike Relief Day 6

Sorry for the lack of posts. ATT does not have good coverage here. Right now I am in the middle of a parking lot, posting this post. Its 50 degrees and humid. We had another great day. We moved a thousand pounds of hamburger meat today, all in one pound plastic wraps. Brittney went out with a group from Freed Hardman University and mucked a house. Lynn has found his niche moving ice. Oleta kept things in order around the camp. Pictures will have to wait till I am home.

Buddy

Bridge City Work Day 3

Today at the Lovelace house our crew took on a large muck job. This house had over 5 ft of water in it. The floors were oozing moisture it had gotten so wet. The house was filled with a lot of odor, especially when the toilet was taken off of the wax seal to be moved to the trash pile. The debris pile was as big as any I have ever seen at the end of a job. We put in 64 man hours to finish the job. Its an honor to be able to start the process of drying out a house for a family that needs the help. We drove to the Gulf today after working all day. We saw all the usual sights in the wake of a hurricane. Boats in the wrong places, houses flattened, lives changed forever. There was a serenity at the Gulf at sunset. It is hard to believe that it can get so angry and do so much damage. Pictures will have to wait, I am too tired to continue . . . Keep praying for the people of Bridge City.

Buddy

Bridge City

I am posting this while sitting outside of a community center building. an endless stream of cars are coming by looking for food and water. Today is a day of respite for the Disaster Response Team, so though the crowds of people are coming by we are not distributing goods. Mark and Laura are moving today. When they first arrive they show up in an older class a motorhome. Once they determine they will be somewhere for a longer period of time they move in their fifth wheel trailer. The two units are 150 feet apart.

We have three crews working right now. Group 1 is working at home base cleaning it all up. Sweeping, moping and all that goes with detailing a public building that is serving hundreds of people a day. Group 2 is going to Lake Charles, La with a cargo trailer to pick up donated goods from a church. Group 3 is at a house trying to move a 15 x 25 deck that floated away from a house, back to the side of a house. This deck is the means of entry for a disable man who is in a semi vegative state. His wife presently is paying for his care away from home until they can get him back into their house. Moving this deck is going to be no small feat. I hope to upload photos later today.

things are progressing well

Buddy

Ike Relief, First day in Bridge City

What a great day we had today in Bridge City, TX. If we were wondering if there was a need before we arrived, the questions were answered for us today. 3800 homes total in this town only twenty eight without damage. Most homes had three feet of water or more in them. Water in houses means mud on the floors. Most of the mucking is done, thank goodness, but there is much sheetrock to be torn out. Glen V. continues to show his prowess with a sledge hammer. He has a talent for tearing things up. If you are worried about the teens who are beginning to mature, do not worry the teens we have on the trip are awesome. They are strong, willing to work and untiring. Our two homeowners today were thankful for the work we were doing for them. You could see the relief on their faces as we completed the jobs. Jesse and Shirley were fun to talk to while we were working on their houses. Its bedtime more info tomorrow.

On the Way to Texas . . .

We have cleared security and are sitting at the gate waiting to depart from Oakland. A lot of nervous anticipation as we get ready to work in an environment that we are not used to. Bridge City, TX will be our home away from home for a few days. We cannot wait to see what God wants us to do while we are working for him on the Texas coast. So far it has been uneventful and all is good for the moment. Pray that God is preparing someone to hear the gospel while we work in Texas.

grace and peace,

Buddy

Churches of Christ Disaster Response Team . . . Newspaper Article

Dateline: Oct 8, 2008 - - - Orange County Leader


A Church of Christ Disaster Response Team has moved into the Bridge City Community Center, and won’t be leaving anytime soon.

There, residents can get hot meals, cleaning supplies and more.

Being a temporary office, it may seem a bit chaotic inside as people move about doing various jobs. But just ask someone at the door or in the kitchen, and they can get you to the right person.

Dorleen Bickley, a volunteer from Beaumont, said the operation could be in effect up to a year.

“We won’t stop until Bridge City is back to normal,” she said, adding that volunteers include Church of Christ members from Vidor, Beaumont and Port Arthur. The Bridge City operation is directed by Laura and Mark Cremeans of Ohio.

“Right now we are serving just Bridge City residents, but that may change in the future,” Laura Cremeans said. “We will soon have volunteers coming in from across the United States for long-term recovery and rebuilding. We will have skilled laborers that can help with home repairs; and will have a mobil kitchen serving hot-cooked meals.”

At the Community Center, she said, about 700 meals a day are going out to residents.

Clothing donations are needed, she said, but only new clothes can be accepted.

“We started out in Beaumont about two days after Ike hit,” she said. “Then we came down and had a meeting with [City Manager] Jerry Jones and we’ve been here since. We can offer cleaning supplies, baby supplies, boxed nonperishable foods and some bedding. The options change as we get each shipment in.

“We soon plan to put banners around town to let people know we’re here,” she said. “We will be here as long as it takes and want to help in any way we can.”

For more information, call Laura Cremeans at (937) 308-2259.
The Disaster Relief Team (called DRTs) office is headquarted in Melbourne, Fla.

The Bridge City DRT opened Sept. 24 and has about 35 volunteers.

Churches of Christ’s mission is to bring the “Good News of the Gospel” to communities affected by flooding, tornadoes and other natural disasters; as well as human-related disasters such as fires, explosions and terrorist activities.

DRTs have served with relief efforts in states such as Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Missouri.

Ike Relief Trip Plans Moving forward

The relief trip team will have a meeting on Wednesday Night at 6:30 pm in the MPR at Davis Park. We will go over last minute details such as what time we will leave the church on Friday morning, dress code for the trip. We have a good size group going, we will need to coordinate rides to and from the church. It appears that their is still much work to be done on the coast of Texas. I am eager and excited that we will have a presence of Christ's body doing work for him there.

Ike Response Fund raising . . .

A special thanks to everyone who contributed to the Ike Response Trip. We are getting close to covering the transportation costs of the trip. God is great! He keeps providing so well.The disaster response team continues to work dilegently in Bridge City, TX go to their blog for an update at http://www.disasterresponseteam.blogspot.com/. Hundreds of people have been helped so far and many more re waiting to be helped. I cannot wait for our group to get on the ground and work there

Buddy

Ike Relief Trip Team Set and waiting to go

We have confirmed a team of fourteen to go to Bridge City, TX. The team will leave Modesto on October 17th and return on the 26th. I communicated with Laura from Church of Christ Disaster Response Team today and they are ready for us to be there. They have not been advertising there feeding location and they have been feeding 400 people per meal at their site. Presently they are set up at the Community Center in Bridge City. Laura tells me there are not many groups active in relief work in Bridge City, where most of the houses in the community sustained some type of water damage. The disaster response team is in dire need of workers for this relief effort. We are glad that God has placed us in this work. Many of our workers are going to the field for the first time. We are approaching this trip differently because we are not taking many of our resources with us as we have in the past. We can have more boots on the ground for a longer period of time by flying. Not to mention the cost of gasoline to pull the trailer to the Texas Coast. I am anticipating a great 9 days of work in Texas.