FBDR volunteers, mass feeding units on standby for Matthew

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Florida Baptist disaster relief volunteers are making preparations to respond to the potential impact and damage caused by Hurricane Matthew’s march along Florida’s Atlantic Coast.

Forecasters expect the Category 3 hurricane to strengthen as it moves northward from the Bahamas  with potential landfall from North Miami to Jacksonville Thursday night. This will be the first time a major storm has made a direct hit in Florida in more than a decade when Hurricane Wilma hit in 2005.

On Monday, Gov. Rick Scott declared a State of Emergency in Florida.

Two Florida Baptist mass feeding units are being staged at Lake Yale Baptist Conference Center near Leesburg for rapid response. The Disaster Operation Center at Lake Yale will stage equipment out of the warehouse. Trained mass feeding volunteers are expected to be called out on Thursday. FBDR officials have asked Southern Baptist state partners west of Pensacola to be on standby, including Texas, Mississippi and Alabama.

According to Delton Beall, Florida DR director,  the state’s Emergency Operations Center estimates the need of more than 300,000 meals daily if the state takes a direct hit.

Florida Baptists are continuing to initiate contact with mission partners in Eastern Cuba and Western Haiti after the storm tore through the nations on Tuesday. Reports indicate Western Haiti was devastated by floods and damage.

Craig Culbreth, catalyst for the Convention’s Missions and Ministries Team, reports the Mission House of the Confratenite Missionaire de Haiti in Port au Prince did not sustain damage.  He plans to travel to the nation Saturday.

A team of Florida Baptists are expected to arrive next week in Santiago, Cuba, to repair roofs of churches and other damage.

Florida Baptists had pre-stationed food, water and other resources in anticipation of Hurricane Matthew. Long term needs assessments will take place in the coming days.

Florida’s 5,000 disaster relief volunteers are trained in mass feeding, emergency response, damage assessment, clean-up and recovery, childcare and others areas as needed in a mass disaster response.

To donate to the Florida Baptist DR relief effort send a check to the Florida Baptist Convention, 6850 Belfort Oaks Place, Jacksonville, FL 32216. Designate “Florida disaster relief.” To make a donation by credit card, call 800-226-8584, att. Mike Gilley, ext. 3047 or Flor Ramirez, ext. 3100.

By Barbara Denman, Florida Baptist Convention, October 5, 2016

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