Disaster Relief Updates and Opportunities

Dear Church Family,

To God be the glory for the beauty of the Body of Christ in action today!  Much ministry for the Kingdom of God was accomplished today and much more remains to be done.  I want to encourage us to remember that disaster relief is a long distance run not a sprint.  There will be needs in our community for months to come.  So, be patient as we work through some uncharted territories of ministry.  The opportunities to serve the Lord by serving others is enormous!

Just to summarize today … we were able to feed more than 120 persons in the fellowship hall, distributed more than 300 bottles of water, and hosted more than 500 persons in the sanctuary tonight for a Clarkdale Elementary family reunion.

So, where do we go from here and how can you get involved?  I’m glad you asked!  The following are Ewing Road Baptist Church’s ministry priorities and volunteer needs for Thursday and Friday.

1. Receiving Donated Goods (bottled water & clothing) – 2 volunteers at a time.  Please let us know when and how long you can be available.  These volunteers will also need to help direct traffic in the parking lot as donations are dropped off.  Some heavy lifting may be required.  Start time is 10:00am and we will receive until 6:00pm.
2. Kitchen Crew – 2 volunteers at a time to help with food preparation.  We have cook volunteers to handle the major preparations, but we need volunteers to help prepare the drinks and sandwiches.  We will be serving meals from 12:00 noon until 7:00pm.  Please let us know when and how long you can be available.  Start time is 11:00am and we will serve until 7:00pm.
3. Greeting & Table Service – 2 volunteers at a time to help greet the community members when they arrive and assist them in getting their plates fixed.  Please let us know when and how long you can be available.  Start time is 11:00am and we will serve until 7:00pm.
4. Water Bottle Preparation – 1 volunteer at a time to help prepare the water bottles for the distribution teams to take out into the neighborhoods.  Some heavy lifting may be required.  Please let us know when and how long you can be available.  Start time is 10:00am and we will distribute until 7:00pm.
5. Water Bottle Distribution – multiple volunteers at a time to deliver water bottles into the neighborhoods every two hours and distribute flyers about the meal at the church.  Please let us know when and how long you can be available.  Start time 10:00am and we will distribute until 7:00pm.
6. House Clean Out – multiple volunteers needed to help with the cleaning out of the homes of a couple of church members.  The waters have receded enough to begin this process and we have a couple of church families that need our help.  Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Teams are scheduled to start showing up tomorrow, so the community will not be overlooked.  Please let us know when and how long you can be available.  This will take a couple of days at the minimum to complete the clean outs. You can help with this need is one of two ways:
   1. Supply Tools – square shovels, utility knives & blades, wheel barrels, 5 gallon buckets, flat pry bars, etc.
   2. Clean Out Work – assist in the clean out process

To volunteer for any of these opportunities please contact Michael Stovall via Facebook, email (michael@ewingroad.com), or cell phone (770-696-3717).

May God Be Glorified,
Pastor Michael