I
made a trip to downtown Galveston yesterday.
I wanted to introduce myself to the on-site coordinator of the North
American Mission Board (NAMB). That’s one of the national hurricane relief
agencies operating with Galveston as a base.
I wanted to ask about where they were sending volunteers, what supplies
they had available, and how far they were going in their assistance. The last question was answered rather
quickly. They are here for phase one
operations only. They primarily help
empty out and muck out homes, then spray them for mold. There is apparently an entirely different
division that helps with rebuilding homes.
He didn’t know if that division was going to be deployed in this area or
not. He did ask me to send him any
addresses I might encounter of homes that still need to be mucked out. He has a glut of volunteers scheduled, and he
wants to use them in this South of Houston area as much as possible. As I was leaving he gave me a tour of their
two shower trailers, a freezer trailer, and an ice machine that have all been
set up to provide for the volunteers.
They
are not at all set up as a distribution center for supplies or food or
clothing. Well, except for Shockwave,
the mold killing product they are using.
He said they will give water bottles full of the stuff with strict
instructions on usage (one fourth of a
bottle to a gallon of water). Oh,
and on the shower trailer tour he remarked that they had received an entire
pallet of dehumidifiers and rolled roofing.
I
went from there over to fire station one to check in with the guys on duty
since I was so close. And that’s when I found
out a fairly well-kept secret. Come to
find out there are several fire fighters who live here on the Island who have
water damage in their homes. Now,
understand, these are the guys who spent the first few days after the storm on
duty or volunteering to help with rescues.
Then they transitioned into creating work crews to tear out the moldy
sheetrock and flooring in other fire fighter homes. All the while, they never bothered to let on
that their own homes had received some damage as well. See, parts of the Island did receive heavy
rainfall, and depending on the drainage capacity of individual neighborhoods,
some parts did experience flooding. But these
fire fighters never told anyone about their damage because they considered it
minor in comparison to what the folks on the mainland were undergoing. Minor?
OK. But still a significant drain
on their personal time and resources.
Two of the guys were apparently still trying to get their homes to dry
out enough to continue with repairs.
They needed a … dehumidifier.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
My old brain may be deteriorating, but even I could make that
connection.
I put
in a call to the NAMB guy I had just spent an hour or so with. When he heard that a request was coming in
for a dehumidifier that two first responders could share, he would have none of
it. He insisted that they each be given
one, with no strings attached. He was even
willing to deliver them to the station himself.
I offered to do it for him, since I could take them directly to the guys’
homes that needed them, and he was appreciative. I think deep down he really just wanted to go
visit a fire station. What little boy doesn’t
love a fire truck? I assured him he would
be more than welcome, but in the end his tight schedule forced him to comply
with my offer.
I
made contact with each of the fire fighters, and dropped off the dehumidifiers. They were both humbled and excited. The plan is to make the machines available to
whoever might need them now, them to store them at the fire fighters’ union
hall for when the next “event” occurs. And
it will occur. Leave it to our fire
fighters to be prepared for the future.
2
Peter 1:10-11 says, “Therefore, my
brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if
you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome
into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Father,
once again you amaze me with the way you meet needs before we even know what
they will be. Thank you for that. Amen.
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