By Message Staff
FORT MYERS, Fla. – A Louisiana Baptist feeding team is hard at work in Fort Myers, Fla., preparing nearly 15,000 meals in a five-day period for Hurricane Irma victims.
The team of 15 from Northshore Baptist Association and other southeast Louisiana associations began working out of Riverside Baptist Church Sept. 15. Freddie Arnold, blue hat for the team, told the Baptist Message they have prepared between 500 and 1,300 meals for lunch and supper, and expects that number to increase as each day passes.
Joining the feeding team is a shower and laundry unit from Mount Olive Association, water purification unit from a First Baptist Church in Mangham and a generator from Rolling Hills Ministry.
Since they are not working in neighborhoods hit hard by Irma, Arnold said team members for the most part are unable to interact directly with residents of the community. However, he said people they have encountered have expressed appreciation for their efforts.
“As we were coming in on the interstate, people were blowing their horns, rolling down their car windows and saying thank you for being here,” Arnold said. “So they definitely know about Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. Since we have been through this before, we are able to relate to what they’ve experienced.
Gibbie McMillan, state disaster relief director for Louisiana Baptists, said the team in Fort Myers has faced difficult circumstances. Riverside Baptist experienced a sewage backup Sunday evening, relegating the team to using port-a-johns for their restroom facilities.
The church also is without electricity which forced the team to have rely on the generator from Rolling Hills.
“When disaster relief volunteers deploy it is not a vacation sitting on the beach,” McMillan said. “It is hard work but our volunteers see it as a blessing to serve others that they can see Christ in them.”
