UPDATE 22 Sept

Sep 8

BRENTWOOD, TN – Today, only one Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief Feeding Unit, based at First Baptist Church, Goodlettsville, continues to prepare meals in Tennessee for Gustav evacuees.  Units from Johnson City, Cumberland Gap from Harrogate serving in Knoxville, and Hardeman County Baptist Association at Lavinia in West Tennessee, have shut down their operations which had been in service since last Saturday.  More than 5,000 residents found refuge across the State of Tennessee through American Red Cross Shelters.  Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief Feeding Units were cooking meals and trucking them to the different shelters. 

Over 12,650 meals have been prepared on Shiloh’s feeding unit which is in Shreveport, Louisiana.  Over 19,784 meals were served in our Tennessee shelters where three of our feeding units are located.    246 laundry loads have been done and 51 showers have been taken in two of our shelters in Tennessee.  Approximately 450 showers were taken on a unit that was in Huntsville, Alabama.

The Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief State Feeding Unit is serving meals today in Houma, LA, along with a Chainsaw Unit out of Cumberland Baptist Association and the State Communications Unit.  The State Feeding Unit is teaming with Arkansas and North Carolina Units to serve 110,000 meals daily. 

While Gustav response is taking place, many states are preparing their teams for possible response to Tropical Storm Hanna and Ike.  Hanna is expected to hit this weekend possibly affecting the Carolinas and Virginia.  The Virginia Baptist State Feeding Unit is serving in Baton Rouge at this time.  However, 15 Tennessee Baptist Feeding Unit volunteers are leaving for Baton Rouge to provide assistance so Virginia Baptist Disaster Relief can respond to Hanna if necessary.

March 3 2008- Tornado Relief

 Cleaning supplies, diapers, wipes, trash bags, children's underwear and other supplies gathered by WMU from our churches. These items were delivered on Tuesday Feb 26th and distributed by Thursday the 28th. New Life Baptist Church in Lafayette thanks those in the Chilhowee Association for their help and prayers. We will continue to aid where we can with the volunteers and supplies from our association. If you have items you would like to donate, please bring them to the office on East Lincoln or you can call Rick Myers at the office for an updated list of needs.

Disaster Relief Meeting March 11th 6:30 pm

Disaster Relief News

Latest News:

Tornado Clean-Up Information February 12, 2008 Many of you have expressed an interest in helping with tornado relief efforts, so here is an update. The Gallatin Area Chamber of Commerce will continue to register and dispatch volunteers. We are trying to get more specific addresses and descriptions of the work needed. Volunteers should come to the Chamber office at 118 West Main Street after 8:30am and they will be registered and directed to appropriate locations. Warehouse Available for Macon County victims Contact information: Rev. Ralph Wheaton New Life Baptist Church 6851 Highway 52 E Lafayette, TN (located between Lafayette and Red Boiling Springs) (615) 688-4176 Accepting clothing (only the kind you would wear - no rejects); bedding, and non-perishable items. Cragfont Baptist Church is in need of volunteer help and donations to support meal distribution to volunteers and emergency workers. This is the church at the corner of Harsh Lane and Highway 25 that has acted as the Emergency Operations Center, has received and distributed donations for victims, AND fed thousands of volunteers, emergency workers and victims. They need some support. If you can help there, please call 615.451.9673 (leave a message and they will return your call). The church has been open 24 hours for many days, so help at any time of the day or night will be appreciated. Plans are also being made to organize another volunteer weekend. We will forward that information on as soon as details are available. The latest information on donations is that there is still a need for shoes(please bind together), socks, coats, diapers, baby wipes, non-perishable food, water and paper products. Locations where items are being accepted include Gallatin City Hall, Gallatin Cares, Cragfont Baptist Church, Bethpage First United Methodist Church and West Eastland Church of Christ. Please advise of any other locations of which we may not be aware. Donations needed to support clean-up/volunteer efforts include gloves, garbage bags (large contractor bags are best), rakes, lunch supplies and drinks. We can accept all these donations at our office. Thank you all for your generosity and spirit. The work this weekend was amazing and it was greatly appreciated! Please call the chamber at (615) 452-4000 if you have any questions.

Newest disaster hits home 

On the evening of 5 February, fierce tornados ripped through our state and left many homes, businesses, and schools destroyed or badly damaged. Tennesseeans have responded as is normal for us and there have been thousands of volunteers who want to help desperatly. Disaster Relief teams from the state are being forwarded to the areas of need as quickly as they can be placed. The Chilhowee association has one shower unit on standby with the possibility of deploying to Macon county on Wednesday the 13th of Feb. Other units are available and we are waiting for instructions from the state coordinators. If you are trained and are available to respond, please let Rick Myers know at the association office, 982-0499.

  Training opportunities

March 15th at 9am at the Chilhowee Baptist Association office.

Chain Saw training with hands on training and demonstration after the classroom session.

Call Rick Myers - 982-0499 to register for the class.

The next mass trainin will be held at First Baptist, Morristown on April 19th. Pre-Registration Deadline is April 5th. All certifications run out after 3 years so if yours is about out or if you have never had Disaster Relief training please plan to attend.