By Staff, Baptist Press
[img_assist|nid=6068|title=A South Carolina Baptist medical team fashioned a clinic at a Haitian church|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=66]NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Volunteers are making a profound difference in the lives of Haitians who survived the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake – from medical professionals and disaster relief experts who are using specialized skills to relieve suffering, to the multitude of lay people who have been fervently praying and generously giving for the past three weeks.
While medical teams from Kentucky, Mississippi, Florida and South Carolina have been joined in Haiti by a leadership coordination team from the North American Mission Board, a Feb. 10-11 meeting in Atlanta charted the course for the long-term response and involvement of general service volunteers, said Jeff Palmer, executive director of Baptist Global Response.
Additional medical teams from Oklahoma, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee, a multi-state water purification team, chaplains, and a volunteer coordinator from Florida will be among the volunteers leaving for Haiti over the next four days.
But volunteers also are playing a crucial behind-the-scenes role in Haiti earthquake relief from right here in the United States – multiplying the effectiveness of full-time staff by catching phone calls, answering e-mails, and processing contributions, noted Megan Stull Riel, associate director of Baptist Global Response’s U.S. office.
For the past two weeks, a steady stream of volunteers from Brentwood Baptist Church near Nashville has given the small staff in BGR’s U.S. office the breathing room they need to focus on urgent issues of coordinating response to the disaster.
“We couldn’t have done it without them. We have one person in our office to handle donations on a daily basis – and that was probably only for about an hour a day,” Riel said.
“The earthquake greatly increased the number of donations we received. In all of last year, we processed 400 to 500 donations; after the earthquake, we received more than 500 donations for Haiti in one day. Besides that, the number of phone calls increased dramatically. Before the volunteers came in, the only thing we were doing the whole day was answering caller questions. We weren’t able to get to anything else.”
Scott Harris, associate pastor at Brentwood who focuses on hunger and relief ministries, knew BGR’s Nashville staff was limited in number and would need help responding to a crisis of this magnitude.
“As soon as we heard about the earthquake, we called BGR,” Harris said. “We knew we could assist by offering prayers and financial assistance, and, in time, long-term involvement. But we also wanted to aid BGR in more tangible ways.”
Harris offered to make office space available at the church and asked if they could send volunteers to help them in the Nashville office. In two weeks, 20 Brentwood volunteers provided 150 hours of donated time.
“We were able to send rotating shifts of volunteers to help process donations and help with other tasks,” Harris said. “Our people continue to volunteer at BGR’s facilities. It instills such confidence in our people to see the character and competence of the BGR staff up close and personal.”
Brentwood Baptist first became acquainted with Baptist Global Response through BGR’s promotion of the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund. The church hosted BGR’s first official event, a world hunger summit in the fall of 2007. Harris is glad they have the opportunity to lend a hand with the office tasks.
“We are blessed to have BGR in our own hometown. Through our relationship with BGR, we are able to touch the world right where we are,” Harris said.
Local office volunteers make an important difference as BGR’s stateside staff focuses on preparing the way for the larger volume of general service volunteers that will be flowing into Haiti in a few weeks, said Jim Brown, director of BGR’s U.S. office.
“Our role in sending volunteers to Haiti is the role of facilitator,” Brown said. “We work with partners like the North American Mission Board, International Mission Board, Florida Baptist Convention, and other state conventions to find appropriate places for volunteers to serve and facilitate logistics to make that happen. This is not an easy task, considering our small personnel resources in the Nashville office. Volunteers make an enormous difference.”