Florida Baptists thank MBC for disaster relief work

January 14, 2005

By Allen Palmeri
Staff Writer

JEFFERSON CITY – The Florida Baptist Convention has thanked the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) for its role in disaster relief last year by presenting a plaque to MBC leaders in honor of the many Missouri Baptist volunteers who headed south to help Floridians recover from four devastating hurricanes in August and September that caused 113 deaths and an estimated $40 billion in property damage.

MBC Executive Director David Clippard and MBC President Mitchell Jackson were delighted to accept the plaque in honor of the numerous, anonymous Missouri Baptists who often served 12 or 15 hours a day on disaster relief crews.

“It was a cooperative effort of people across the state that made this happen,” said Danny Decker, Disaster Relief supervisor for the MBC.

As Southern Baptists logged 48,341 days of disaster response labor in Florida, Missouri Baptists were right in the mix.

“I talked with several people over the phone from time to time who have met our workers, and they always gave our Missouri workers high marks,” Decker said. “They always said they were very courteous, efficient, well-trained and knew what they were doing. No one ever said a negative remark about any of our workers.”

The plaque has been placed on the sixth floor of the Baptist Building.

Decker said the ongoing challenge in 2005 for Missouri Baptists will be providing disaster relief in Asia, where a Dec. 26 Indian Ocean earthquake and subsequent tsunamis have left millions homeless and desperate for help.

He said he would like to see $100,000 raised in the state in the first couple of months to help fund water purification and medical teams from Missouri who are headed over to help the Asian people. About 20-25 trained people will be going on the initial teams, he said.

Food, water and plastic shelters are being shipped to Asia along with water purification units.