Stories tagged with: hurricane maria

• Send Relief 'pastor packs,' SBDR help Puerto Rico

  by Brandon Elrod, posted Friday, October 20, 2017 (5 years ago)

  

  Photo courtesy of Sam Porter

  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (BP) -- When people started showing up seeking food and water after Hurricane Maria, pastor Johnny Baez knew he couldn't just sit back and do nothing.

  "People around my church started asking me for water to drink and food to eat," said Baez, who serves at Iglesia Bautista Familia Santurce (Baptist Church of the Family Santurce) in San Juan, Puerto Rico. "So, I asked pastor friends for a [water] filter, and they let me use one. I asked another pastor for a gas stove and another pastor for a gas tank. Now we are cooking Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday." Read More

• 'Like a warzone' conditions for Ky. DR team

  by Todd Deaton/Western Recorder, posted Wednesday, October 18, 2017 (5 years ago)

  

  Photo courtesy of the Western Recorder

  ST. THOMAS, VIRGIN ISLANDS (BP) -- Nineteen Kentucky Baptists arrived in St. Thomas on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 8) to face some "extremely challenging" working conditions on the tiny Caribbean island, devastated by Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

  The disaster relief team of 19 that will be serving through Oct. 29, is partnering with nine Baptist churches in the Virgin Islands. They will be feeding those affected by the storms and doing chainsaw and flood clean-up. Read More

• Puerto Rico DR response requiring rigorous logistics

  by Brandon Elrod, posted Friday, October 13, 2017 (5 years ago)

  

  Photo by Puerto Rico National Guard

  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (BP) -- Three weeks after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, Sam Porter estimates that one-third of the island has yet to receive much care or help.

  Porter, the North American Mission Board's national director for disaster relief, has been in Puerto Rico since Sunday, Oct. 8.

  He is working there with Jack Noble, a retired disaster relief director from the SBC of Virginia, and David Melber, NAMB's president of Send Relief, to coordinate a plan to deliver help and hope to the people of Puerto Rico. Read More

• San Juan pastor serves meals, Gospel after Maria

  by Diana Chandler, posted Monday, October 09, 2017 (5 years ago)

  

  Submitted photo.

  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (BP) -- Hungry and thirsty two weeks after Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico, the teenage girl approached as Southern Baptist church planter Johnny Baez was serving beans, rice and filtered water.

  "I'm hungry and I don't have nothing at home," she told Baez, "and I just start walking to see if I find something to eat."

  Baez shared the girl's story with Baptist Press by telephone Oct. 6, recounting... Read More

• Puerto Rico churches doing best to help, NAMB catalyst says

  by Diana Chandler, posted Thursday, September 28, 2017 (5 years ago)

  

  Screen capture from MSNBC

  PUERTO RICO (BP) -- More than a week after Puerto Rico suffered its greatest natural disaster, the condition of most of the Southern Baptist churches on the island is still unknown, a church planting catalyst on the island told Baptist Press.

  But the 12 churches Carlos Rodriguez has been able to contact are doing all they can to help survivors of hurricanes Irma and Maria, he said in a telephone interview Sept. 27. Rodriguez had been unable to contact the remaining 75 or so Southern Baptist churches on the island because of damaged infrastructure and communication services, he said. Read More

• UPDATE: SBDR reports on Puerto Rico response

  by Brandon Elrod, posted Friday, September 22, 2017 (6 years ago)

  

  Screen capture from washingtonpost.com

  ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- After Hurricane Maria knocked power out for nearly the entire population of Puerto Rico, the island's infrastructure is devastated and initial reports estimate that it will take months before services can be completely restored.

  On Thursday afternoon (Sept. 21), FEMA officials sought to organize a response in Puerto Rico with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) as well as American Red Cross and the Salvation Army. Read More

• Hurricane Maria pounds Puerto Rico

  by Grace Thornton, posted Wednesday, September 20, 2017 (6 years ago)

  

  Image from the National Hurricane Center

  PUERTO RICO (BP) -- As Hurricane Maria pounded Puerto Rico with potentially record-breaking winds on Wednesday (Sept. 20), Southern Baptist disaster relief workers pulled back and prepared for a long-haul response in the Caribbean.

  "It's going to be a long, multi-month response with a lot of needs for volunteers and supplies," said David Melber, vice president of the North American Mission Board's Send Relief.

  Disaster relief teams had just received FEMA approval to take much-needed aid to the Virgin Islands -- an area hit hard two weeks ago by the Category 5 Hurricane Irma -- but had to press pause on relief efforts when Maria rolled in. Read More