KANSAS CITY – Once the flood-water recedes in Houston, volunteers with the Missouri Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief Team will get the call for flooding relief.
The team is composed of 10 members from cities across the state.
Team members, Larry Jacques and Wes Wakefield, of Noland Road Baptist Church in Independence, Missouri, are experienced disaster relief volunteers.
They explained that their work is repairing flooded homes and offering hope to the people who lived there.
The team is trained to remove trees with chainsaws. They also go into once flooded-homes and remove ruined sheet-rock, carpet, toilets and trash. It is physical work; but it is also emotional.
"You kind of go in with the task wanting to help physically but there are a lot of emotional scars and so we really try to take time to hear their stories, talk with the families, build relationships with the families and comfort them," said Westlake.
The team members have experience in cleaning up the aftermath of natural disasters.
They worked after Hurricane Katrina and numerous tornados in Oklahoma. They are volunteers; they are not paid. They said their reward is in serving God and helping hurting people.
"When you get there the are despair. When you work through the process they can see things are changing and so they begin to see hope and sometimes I kinda feel like Paul Bunyan --you know--you can do anything for them because you want to so much," said Jacques.
They are working a faith-based organization, but they help families in need regardless of faith. Their goal is to help flood-victims who don't have insurance and could not afford to rebuild.
