LOUISVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — Kentucky Baptist Convention's disaster relief team is on 'on alert' waiting to hear back from Florida’s state director on where assistance is needed the most in case Hurricane Idalia’s impact is great. KBC's more than 2,000 volunteers around the state are trained and prepped to help in an emergency.
KBC disaster relief director Ron Crow says, "From feeding to flood recovery, chainsaw recovery, child care, chaplaincy and more, and we have equipment that rolls, shower units and all of our feeding gear that we need to mobilize and to meet the needs of people who are affected by disaster."
The Bluegrass Area Chapter of the Red Cross is preparing to get on the road too. This is volunteer David Sliver's 10th or 12th deployment with the Red Cross since he retired. His bags are packed, and he's heading to the Red Cross staging area in Alabama.
He says, "I went with the tornado in western Kentucky, the flooding here in eastern Kentucky, I was in California twice this past year, in Florida twice this past year."
Last year, Silver was in Florida serving meals to people on 12 different streets every day. When he was out helping in California, a woman saw a familiar face. He says, "She said to me, 'Were you in Florida?' I said yes. She says, 'Well, you delivered food to my street for two weeks, and you're the reason I joined Red Cross,' which really, I mean that's nice, you know?"
Kentucky Electric Cooperative's vice president of strategic communications, Joe Arnold, explains that people who volunteer and respond to these emergencies are heroes. Several of their co-op companies are getting crews ready to help.
Arnold says, "Many of the cooperatives who are reaching out to us saying we might need your help were on the ground here within the last year helping us here. They know what kind of help we received, and this is this fraternal organization, this sister organization that we have with other cooperatives across the southeast who are eager to help."
Kentucky Baptist Convention's Ron Crow says volunteers feel called to help. KBC's mission reaches even farther. He says, "It's a calling from God and we go and meet the needs of people who are hurting and in crisis, and so they're eager to go and respond to that. But we go not just to bring physical help to them, but we also want to help them with their emotional and spiritual health and share with them the love of Jesus Christ. That's our whole focus."
