Categories
Disaster Response Tornadoes

Canton Tornado Survival Story

A four-year-old was found unscathed at the bottom of the “dogpile” in the bathtub, when the devastating tornadoes swept across Canton city in Texas last week. She was protected by her two older sisters who covered her while being struck repeatedly by flying debris, which included chunks of asphalt. Their dad was hugging the toilet when the tornado hit, and both he and the toilet went flying into the air about 130 feet and landed in the yard. He suffered nine broken ribs and a concussion. Mom was away from home at the time, but on the way back she found it extremely difficult to gain entry into their area. The family had lost their home, their barn, and three vehicles. Although bruised and battered from this deadly tornado, they were most thankful to be alive and to have each other, and are on the road to recovery now.

Texas Conference ACS provided assistance to them by delivering food, cleaning items, yard tools, personal care items, pet supplies, and paper products. Besides this family, the Texas ACS has served over 300 other families at the Distribution Center so far, and 250 families at remote drop off locations. They have also sent yard tools, gloves, snacks, trash bags, sunscreen, insect repellant, Gatorade, and bottled water with the clean up crews going out daily. Let us continue to remember the survivors of this tragedy, and also the volunteers that continue to serve and cater to the needs of the community.

Categories
Disaster Response Floods

Missouri Floods Update

The ACS DR Team continues its efforts to assist individuals experiencing crisis in the aftermath of the devastating flooding that occurred last week in Missouri. W. Derrick Lea (NAD ACS), along with Nancy and Bob (IA-MO ACS), prepared flood buckets and storage totes to be delivered in some of the affected areas in Neosho. In addition, Nancy and Bob drove a delivery truck that carried much-needed items to a distribution site in another area that was 6 hours away from Neosho.

ACS DR and ‘Gleaning of the World’ Teams also delivered water, flood buckets, and blankets to Sunnyvale on Friday morning. In addition to the Gleaners, we have partnered with Convoy of Hope and Penske Truck, which has loaned us the use of three large trucks for delivering goods, along with a trailer for temporary storage.

The State of Arkansas has been heavily impacted by the floods as well. The waters from Missouri are flowing into Arkansas and causing substantial flooding. Our Arkansas/Kansas Conference ACS DR Coordinator, Lavida Whitson, is in the process of setting up a Warehouse and Distribution Center for the communities in the affected areas of Arkansas.

Categories
Disaster Response Tornadoes

Tornadoes Hit Canton, TX

The Canton, TX community is in the process of recovery from seven tornadoes that struck the area on late Saturday evening, April 29, 2017. Five deaths have been reported, and over 50 individuals have been injured. One of the tornadoes was on the ground almost 50 miles! The Texas Conference ACS is operating a Collection/Distribution center at the Van Zandt County Fairgrounds in the judging barn. Donated goods are continuing to come in, and the tornado-struck community is extremely appreciative of the much-needed emergency supplies. ACS Volunteers from Terrell, Athens, Mesquite, and Jefferson Academy churches, along with many other community volunteers, are dedicating their time to helping those who have been affected by this tragedy.

Categories
Disaster Response Floods

ACS Responds to Missouri Floods

The State of Missouri experienced a sudden downpour over the past weekend that has resulted in devastating floods across the region. The weather continues to affect not only those living in Missouri, but also in Kansas and Arkansas. Approximately 400 homes have been inundated; and several roads, property, and businesses also have been heavily destroyed by this massive natural disaster.

ACS DR Teams have set up a Multi-agency Resource Center in the affected areas that is providing flood buckets, clean water, and other needed items. They were able to partner with other agencies such as “Gleaning for the World” which provided roughly $35,000 worth of blankets with lids to preserve personal items, clean water for drinking, blankets for warmth, and stuffed animals for the children who have been displaced or traumatized by the upheaval of the flood waters.

The DR Teams toured the area of Joplin, MO, assessing the needs to ensure an effective response. They also distributed Storage Totes to members of the Neosho community whose homes were affected. They used a Penske Truck that had been donated to ACS DR Iowa Nebraska for the duration of the Recovery efforts.

Categories
Community Development Educational

Improving Community Outreach in Jamaica

ACS leaders from the General Conference and the North American Division spent a few days in Jamaica to help our fellow church members in improving their community outreach ministries, through the Flip Classroom workshop sessions. The team consisted of Dr. Sung Kwon, Executive Director of NAD ACS, Dr. Sharon Aka, Associate Director of NAD Adventist Learning Community (ALC), and Dr. May-Ellen Colon, Director of ACS International, from the General Conference. The general sessions were provided by Dr. Colon and Dr. Kwon; and the ALC classes were given by Dr. Aka.

For the Sabbath worship service, Dr. Colon and Dr. Kwon spoke on how we, as Adventists, should transform our communities by reaching out and ministering to them. Dr. Kwon went on to add that we need to get out of our comfort zone within the four walls of the church and focus on serving those outside of these walls. “We have become inward focused instead of outward focused. We have become a self-serving entity instead of serving God and his people. The gospel is not about preaching from the head, but it is about connecting to people heart to heart,” said Dr. Kwon.

On Sunday, Dr. Aka led out in the meeting with ACS leaders in the Jamaican Conferences, where she gave them an orientation of the Community Services & Urban Ministry Certification Program on the ALC platform. She also demonstrated how to access instructional videos and material that would help them in improving their community service ministry.

Read full article here.

Categories
Educational

Individuals in Crisis Workshop

Adventist Community Services hosted a 2-day “Assisting Individuals in Crisis” Workshop on March 15 – 16 (Wednesday & Thursday) at Summit Northwest Ministries in Post Falls, Idaho. It was conducted by Dr. Martin Feldbush. Participants were awarded CEUs by University of Maryland and Certificates of completion by ICISF. This is a new program launched for volunteer training through ACS. The workshop sessions were well received and turned out to be a great success. There were around 75 individuals from various professional backgrounds that deal with people in crisis; healthcare, law enforcement, counseling, mental health, and etc. The participants were extremely impressed with the sessions and are already looking forward to the “Group Crisis Intervention” Workshop.

Categories
Disaster Response Tornadoes

Perryville Tornado Relief – Update

A Multi-Agency Recovery Center was set up on March 10 and 11 at First Baptist Church in Oak Grove. Several agencies joined together on these two days to be of service to the survivors of the tornado. They offered insurance information, legal services, emergency financial assistance, food stamp replacement services, health and wellness services, and more. In addition to these services, childcare and warm meals were also available. Along with Adventist Community Services, some of the other organizations that participated were the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, United Way 2-1-1, Catholic Charities of Kansas City – St. Joseph, Children’s Disaster Services, ICNA Relief USA, and many more.

Read More Information Here

Therapy Dog Helps Survivors with Recovery

Categories
Disaster Response Donations Local Conference

Louisiana Kitchen Kit Project

The State of Louisiana is still in the process of recovering from the devastating floods that swept across the state in August 2016. One of the areas that were severely hit was Baton Rouge, which alone received a tremendous amount of rain in two days that it caused more than ten rivers to overflow. A federal disaster declaration was issued for over 20 parishes. Over 150,000 families have applied for assistance from the government.

ACS has been in regular contact with Louisiana State, the Louisiana Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD), and FEMA, identifying the needs of the affected communities and coordinating relief efforts. It was found that the greatest unmet need was for kitchen kits to allow families to prepare, serve, and eat meals in their own homes. The ARK-LA Conference ACS Disaster Response Management Team, led by Lavida Whitson, coordinated the ACS response to this emergency with the support of ACS volunteers from several other conferences.

The needs of each family who applied for FEMA assistance were thoroughly evaluated, and resources were made available to them to assist in their recovery. ADRA provided the funds to purchase 450 kitchen kits; each kit was constituted of 83 pieces. The families who were eligible to receive the kits were scheduled for a distribution event in their corresponding parish. The kits were loaded into a truck and transported to the distribution sites, which had banners of ADRA and ACS hanging at each of the sites. They were then distributed by ACS teams to the designated families in the five most affected parishes. ACS-operated multi-agency warehouses were utilized to store the kitchen kits securely prior to distribution.

Overall, this was a very successful project in assisting families in need following the flooding. Adventist Community Services appreciates the Grant funds provided by ADRA. This project would not have been possible without this assistance. We also would like to acknowledge all of the volunteers, workers, and staff of the Disaster Response Team for their continued dedicated efforts in the Recovery process.

Categories
Disaster Response Tornadoes

Perryville Tornado Relief

The devastating EF-4 tornado that struck Perryville last week has left dozens of people injured, around 180 homes destroyed, and one dead. Travis Koenig, who was driving along Interstate 55 with his friend, was killed in a fatal crash caused by the tornado. The city of Perryville and the county have an active COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disaster), so the local response has been tremendously strong and organized.

Over the weekend, Montana Conference ACS DR Team assisted with the Relief by providing about 20 Ambassadors to staff the Multi Agency Resource Center (MARC) that was held in Perryville last Sabbath. These volunteers have become well known and respected for their dedicated service of providing greeting and guidance through the process of ‘Emotional and Spiritual Care’ for the impacted survivors. They worked in conjunction with several local agencies to coordinate water and food distribution, and to donate cleanup items for the Perryville community.

Read more here…

Categories
Disaster Response Local Conference Tornadoes

Texas ACS Responds to New Orleans Tornado Disaster

New Orleans was hit by a tornado on February 8, 2017. Texas Adventist Community Services was asked to bring the clothing truck to New Orleans to distribute clothing outfits to those affected by the tornado. They served 115 families (342 very appreciative people) on Sunday afternoon. On Monday, February 13 they served clothing packs, personal care kits, blankets, and sheets.They are working in cooperation with Catholic Charities whose church and school are in the actual disaster zone.