North Mississippians are helping Hurricane Laura victims in Louisiana

TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – North Mississippians are doing their part to help those impacted by Hurricane Laura.

Steve Metcalf is a volunteer with Eight Days of Hope. He’s been on numerous disaster relief trips with the ministry, but the devastation he’s seeing in the wake of Hurricane Laura is unprecedented.

“I’ve seen some of the most depressing, devastating wind damage here that I’ve ever seen on any of the rapid response trips. It’s pretty intense,” Metcalf said, via FaceTime.

The retired pharmacist from North Carolina has been on the ground in Jennings Louisiana, helping teams of volunteers and missionaries. They assess damage to homes, interview families to see what their needs are, then send out work teams to cut trees, remove debris, and other tasks to help.

Homeowners don’t pay a dime for the work. Metcalf says it is rewarding to see people’s reactions and share true hope with storm victims.

“We strive to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to touch a life, make a difference, demonstrate grace and mercy Jesus has given us, flows through us to demonstrate love to them,” Metcalf said.

Belden Baptist Church recently organized a relief trip to Louisiana, In fact, the Lee-Itawamba Baptist Associations disaster relief building, supplies, and trailers are all headquartered at the church.

“People in our world today, they have lost hope, everything, especially with Covid-19 and the struggles. People are hurting and we get to let them know we care about them. It’s more than cleaning up the trees, tell them about Jesus, and that we love them,” said Dr. Shane McGivney, who served as the statewide director of disaster relief for the Mississippi Baptist Convention before he became senior pastor at Belden Baptist. He says cleanup and relief efforts in Louisiana will last for a while.

“They’re talking about weeks, to months of getting power back, water treatment facilities down, it’s very tough situation, I anticipate mass feeding probably for volunteers and residents probably at least six to eight weeks,” Pastor McGivney said.

Southern Baptist disaster relief teams from across the nation are helping in Louisiana.

McGivney will organize a relief trip to Louisiana with a group from the University of Anchorage in mid-October.

mbcb.org/mission-strategy/mens-ministry/ministries/disaster-relief

eightdaysofhope.com