OGBC Men Partner with N.C. Baptists for Hurricane Helene Rebuild

Written by Rusty Creswell

 

BELAIR, Md. — On April 6, members of Oak Grove Baptist Church’s Men’s Ministry set out on a week-long mission trip to help with Hurricane Helene Rebuild in partnership with Baptists on Mission (BOM), an auxiliary of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

 

Our team of eight departed at 7 a.m. and arrived in Black Mountain, NC, for dinner at 4 p.m. This is where we met our first hurricane survivor. Her name is Nevaeh, which is heaven spelled backward. Nevaeh was in Black Mountain with her grandmother the night the storm was moving in. She said the sound of rain with the wind

blowing up to 100 mph and snapping of the trees all around was terrifying. The Swannanoa River was rising rapidly. She tried to call her mother, but communications were cut off. She was praying all night. She and her grandmother rode out the storm, and the house held up. Nevaeh’s other grandmother lived down the river in Swannanoa, and unfortunately, her house was swept away by the rapidly flowing river. Nevaeh’s cousin was swept away and died.  

The river, which was usually only a few feet deep, rose to nearly 30 feet and took everything in its path. Homeowners didn’t have flood insurance because they weren’t in a flood zone, and residents said only the churches are helping.

 

Everywhere along this river looks like a war zone.

 

After dinner, we headed to Swannanoa, where the Baptist on Mission at the Swannanoa First Baptist Church hosted us with lodging and meals. They provided dormitory-style lodging with hot private showers. Each week, a new team of volunteer kitchen staff is scheduled on a rotational basis. They prepared hot breakfasts and dinners and packed us sandwiches for lunches.

 

 

This was our second mission, and there was more finishing work this time. We installed vinyl flooring, hung drywall, shingled a roof, and customized and restored handicap ramps.

 

 

The most rewarding part of our mission was understanding that we were not there to “work,” but rather, we were there to serve. We were the hands and feet of God doing God’s work in Jesus’ name.

 

 

Before we left for the mission, a few OGBC members gave donations for us to give to a struggling hurricane survivor. Through BOM, we were able to contact a

woman named Hala, who moved her family to Swannanoa 25 years ago from Egypt. Her husband has dementia and cancer. She has two daughters in college, one of whom will graduate next month. Hala has been working seven days a week at the local veteran’s hospital to make enough money to get by.

 

The hurricane knocked a huge tree onto the roof of her house. It left a big hole in the roof and broke down the fence around the backyard. She needed the fence to keep her husband from wandering off while she was at work. Hala gave money to some people who said they would help her, and they left and didn’t come back. With all this going on, she was still in good spirits. She showed me a picture looking out through the hole in the roof from inside the house. She said she now has an “open house.”

 

 

Then Hala found BOM, who doesn’t charge the homeowner. It’s a ministry, and all the work is done by volunteers and with donated materials. BOM volunteers fixed the fence and installed a new shower stall, which is when the black mold was discovered. They told Hala she should not live there with the mold, but she didn’t have anywhere to go, and had no money.

 

 

Before we went to meet Hala, our team had some time to talk and pray. We had $770 that had been donated for us to give away. One of the team members said, “Let’s make it $1000,” and the team members started pulling out money, and we got $1000. Then someone pulled out more money and said, “Let’s make it $1500,” and we did. We handed Hala $1500 on a Friday morning to help get her off to a good weekend. We hugged, we prayed, we cried, and we laughed. None of it came from us; every penny came from Jesus!

 

 

The BOM website says, “Baptists on Mission is operating six rebuild sites in western North Carolina to assist those affected by Hurricane Helene. We can house, feed, and work volunteers from these rebuild centers.

“We are trying to get homeowners back into their homes as quickly as possible. You don’t need to be trained to serve. We’re grateful to the more than 16,000 people who have volunteered since the storm hit our state.”