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.