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| KBC to Send International Relief Team to Georgia |
| Release Date: 08/29/2008 |
GORI, Georgia – The Kentucky Baptist Convention is mobilizing a disaster relief team to provide humanitarian assistance for refugees displaced by recent conflicts between the countries of Georgia and Russia.
According to Coy Webb, disaster relief associate for the KBC, a team of six Kentucky Baptist volunteers will serve in Gori, Sept. 4-16. The team’s primary responsibility will be to provide meals to refugees, potentially “as many as 25,000 meals a day,” said Webb.
“The situation is still tense, but we feel it is stable enough to begin providing relief,” he said. “The Georgian government has essentially turned the refugee areas over to Baptists, and we are grateful for the opportunity to minister there.”
The Kentucky team includes Coy Webb of Shelbyville and member of Clayvillage Baptist Church; Tom Westerfield of Crofton and member of First Baptist Church, Hopkinsville; Dovie Smallwood of Frenchburg and member of Frenchburg Baptist Church; and Monticello residents Tommy Floyd of Oak Grove Baptist Church, Glenn Hickey of Monticello First Baptist Church, and Bernard Randall of Mount Zion Baptist Church.
The Kentucky team will be second in a series of Southern Baptist relief teams to work in Georgia. A seven-member team from the Baptist General Convention of Texas arrived in Gori Aug. 27, and a similar team of specialists from the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma will arrive on site Sept. 7, said Webb.
The effort is being coordinated by Baptist Global Response, a Southern Baptist global relief and development organization.
Webb said Southern Baptist missionaries currently serving in Georgia “took the initiative with the Georgian government to see how Southern Baptists could help, and were then invited to provide help, particularly in mass feeding, and in helping train others to continue the relief work after we’re finished.”
According to a Baptist Press news report, the feeding operation will be conducted primarily from a building shell made available to the teams by a local Baptist partner. The volunteers are currently working to restore the building for use.
Webb is unsure how long the entire relief effort will last after the three Southern Baptist teams have finished their work. While on site, the teams will be working with Baptist Global Response’s regional representative and local missionaries to determine if additional assistance will be needed.
“There is a possibility that we will need to send more teams from Kentucky, but we won’t know for sure until we assess the situation,” he said.
“We will be training the local Baptist leaders and volunteers to continue the relief efforts,” said Webb. “They’re estimating that as many as 20,000 of the refugees have been displaced for the long-term because they have been forced out or burned out of their homes.”
Funding for the feeding operation in Gori is being provided through the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund.
According to Webb, 100 percent of donations given through the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund go directly to help feed people in need. The Cooperative Program and other missions offerings cover the administrative costs of distributing Hunger Fund gifts.
Information about how to contribute to the World Hunger Fund is available at www.kybaptist.org/hunger. Contributions to the Georgia relief effort may be sent to the KBC, Dept. 5008, P.O. Box 740041, Louisville, KY 40201-9976. Please note "disaster relief" in the check memo. Online donations are also being accepted here.
Kentucky Baptists are part of a larger network of Southern Baptist volunteers trained to respond to disasters by manning mass feeding operations, using chainsaws to clear downed trees and limbs, clear mud out of flooded homes and more. Together, Southern Baptists compose the third largest relief organization in the United States. Baptist Global Response is a global relief and development organization of the Southern Baptist Convention.
To learn more about Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief, go to www.kybaptist.org/dr.
The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of more than 2,400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative headquarters in Louisville, Ky. including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more.
Release prepared by Kristie Randolph, KBC Communications |
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