Category: Partnership

Early Monday (August 29) morning, the NAD ACS Team met up with the ACS workers from Tennessee at the Distribution Center, and spoke with them about about how their home churches and some counties had supported them in their plans to help with the Relief work in Louisiana. The discussion also involved reviewing a listing of the homes affected that had been prepared by the local ACS leadership, and outlining them in a manner that would ensure the most effective use of the resources. The discussion with the team from Tennessee was followed by another discussion with the American Red Cross Team led by Director Carlos.

The different groups that were actively involved in the Recovery Efforts touched on some of the shortfalls that they had experienced in the last few days. For example, the Red Cross highlighted some of their concerns with the donated “stuff’ that had been given to them. In the afternoon, conference calls were held for our Union Directors and some of our other Conference Directors/Coordinators to discuss the continued work in Louisiana. “This interaction will create opportunities for collaborative support of our team on the ground and we’ll follow-up upon my return to the home office,” says W. Derrick Lea, NAD ACS Disaster Response Director.

Presently, the local Southwest Regional and Arkansas-Louisiana Conferences are scheduling volunteers to serve in both the Warehouse and the Wellness Center. As these plans are being formulated, the local community continues to keep an eye on the weather reports. In the last six months, Louisiana has been hit by a Tornado in February, a major flooding in the Spring when 40 of the 64 Parishes were affected to experiencing this latest flooding. Forecast reports are now calling for a possible Hurricane that is predicted to devastate the State again.

Please, let us keep the State of Louisiana in our thoughts and prayers, for their protection and safety as they encounter such weather-related tragedies.

On August 28 early morning (Sunday), ACS continued its Recovery Efforts by starting the day off at the Warehouse in Baton Rouge, by taking in supplies from around the region and distributing them appropriately. A letter from the State of Louisiana (see link below) was sent to all the public and non-governmental organizations, informing them about the ACS-operated Warehouse. “We believe the push from the State will lead to a continual increase in the amount of goods received at the facility run by our team for the community affected,” says W. Derrick Lea, NAD ACS Disaster Response Director.

In addition to the ACS members, they were also able to negotiate an agreement with the Federal Government to use VISTA workers at the Warehouse. This group is made up of young people from around the country who volunteer their services for as many as 12 months to public service. They were able to get hold of ten of these workers who have worked in partnership with our ACS staff and volunteers to help transform two empty buildings into functional Warehouses that will serve Louisiana for many months. On the same day, a 6-member team of ACS workers from Nashville, TN had arrived. They were directed to their sleeping quarters where they will reside for the next week. This group has partnered with the Southwest Regional Conference and agreed to use their skills, equipment and abilities to clean homes in the Baton Rouge area.

In addition to the work at the Warehouse, ACS continues its Shelter and Distribution Center operation on Osborne Avenue in Baton Rouge. ACS is providing meals, cots, and even entertainment for the children. Southwest Regional Conference is providing this service through the ACS Director Durandel Ford. Several individuals have signed up to offer their assistance for this cause. The commitment shown by such people whose homes had not been affected was humbling and truly showed the spirit that Christ asks of us.

Letter from State of Louisiana about the Warehouse

When the Carolina Conference received a request from the State of South Carolina to open a warehouse for the handling of donated goods to serve the survivors of the severe flooding there, several volunteers from the GA-Cumberland Conference were asked to join with them to facilitate the swift set up of this operation. The warehouse worked closely with the Governor’s Office to accomplish this.

A shipment of 630 flood buckets was received from the Allegheny East Conference, and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley asked the staff of the warehouse to come with her as she visited the affected counties and to hand out the buckets to the victims during her visit with the counties. The governor came by to personally thank each ACS DR volunteer for helping with her mobile distribution program and for operating the warehouse for the state, and to have her picture taken with the group.

The warehouse was shut down for the afternoon this happened, leaving Terry Haight behind to answer phones, unload any stray trucks, etc. A Regional Director from the office of US Senator Tim Scott saw the ACS banner and stopped by to see what was happening. After a golf cart tour of the warehouse (it was an 85,000 sq/ft building), Haight invited the Director into his office, and the two of them discussed ACS DR for over a half hour about what we do, how we do it and what Adventists believe. The Director said he knew Presidential hopeful Ben Carson, was an Adventist, but had no idea what Adventists believed. They spent over a half-hour discussing these things, following which the Director declared that he had visited many of the other volunteer operations helping out in the state, but had not seen any of them anywhere nearly as organized as the Adventists, and that he was going to recommend that the Senator come and inspect this operation himself, to see how donated goods should be handled.

This was certainly a “High Day” for ACS Disaster Response and the Seventh-day Adventist Church! We all pray that we represented our Savior in the best possible way.