Southern Baptists of Texas Convention volunteers move into New Orleans region

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September 11, 2005
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NEW ORLEANS ? The efforts of Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Disaster Relief crews in Louisiana could expand significantly this week as cooperative efforts with the Salvation Army move into New Orleans. DR crews made their first of many ventures downtown Sept. 4, distributing sandwiches and water to government, military and civilians working and stranded in the French Quarter.

Bill Davenport, SBTC’s state director of disaster relief, said the usually thriving and bustling Quarter was “very eerie” as the convoy of four Salvation Army canteen vans pulled into the deserted and boarded up neighborhood. Dirt, mud, and debris littered the ground and the stench of rotting food from abandoned restaurants joined with trash left by receding flood waters to fill the air.

Vans parked outside the Sheraton Hotel as crews prepared to serve the National Guardsmen, police and other emergency responders, Homeland Security personnel, and any remaining residents who needed food and water. One of the volunteers went into the empty hotel and “requisitioned” a brass luggage rack and proceeded to load it with ice chests filled with bottled water and boxes of sandwiches.

Davenport and five others from Harmony Hill Baptist Church in Lufkin, Texas, made their way through the streets of the French Quarter like an odd parade ? wearing their bright yellow SBC Disaster Relief T-shirts, pushing a bellhop’s cart, and handing out meals. National Guardsmen, unable to leave their posts to get to the canteen, were thankful for the simple meal of a bologna sandwich and water. One Guardsman said the sandwich was the first non-MRE he had eaten in five days.

As the “white cap” leader assigned by the North American Mission Board to that area, Davenport said there was a smattering of residents who had not abandoned their French Quarter homes. He told of one resident who initially ran from the strange band of volunteers, but was eventually convinced they were friendly strangers. Another couple they fed refused to leave their home because they did not want abandon their pet snakes. They offered food and water to a woman whom Davenport suspected had already been living on the street before the storm. She was not fully aware of what was going on around her, he added.

That feeding process could expand exponentially by mid-week if plans between SBTC and The Salvation Army (TSA) are finalized. TSA’s 53-foot mobile kitchen unit from which SBTC volunteers prepare meals is stationed in Baton Route. Davenport is hopeful TSA can bring in another large rig and set both units in downtown New Orleans. Four or five churches creating “bologna brigades” ? an assembly line of volunteers making thousands of sandwiches for distribution ? could link up with the kitchens to serve as many as 200,000 meals a day, Davenport said.

Plans also include creating “spokes” formed off of the hub of mobile kitchens. Davenport said TSA has 20 canteens in the area with five more on the way. Those units would be stationed at strategic points out from the hub, surrounding the city. The canteens would remain in place and food brought to them for distribution in order to save money on gas.

The Salvation Army and Red Cross have the money and equipment to help those in disaster areas while Southern Baptists provide the manpower, said Davenport. A TSA official told him the organization often uses whoever shows up to help and has been properly trained, but they would “love to have a faith-based organization serving meals.”

If the kitchens are established, the volunteer force will need to double so that 100 to 120 people can be rotated into Baton Rouge. All volunteers must be trained disaster relief workers. The SBTC website, www.sbtexas.com/katrina is regularly updated with training opportunities and news of the expanding ministry.

Daven