North Carolina Conference
1. At present the NC DRUSA Coordinator is conducting a survey of all churches in the target area to obtain an assessment on the damages to those churches and their congregation.

2. There are 5 relief sites in operation at this time: Kinston First, Goldsboro First, Greenville First, Tarboro First and Wallace PHC. Food is being sent to each and they in turn are distributing it in their area. Remember if you have a shippment of supplies conming as outlined in the Bishop's letter- coordinate with Rev Danny Nelson (910-980-1481 or 980-1261) on where the supplies are to be taken.

3.Disaster Recovery Teams from our churches are in Wallace and Wilson.

NOTE: An Associated Press news release appeared in the Fayetteville, Raleigh and USA Today.. it reads:
"The Rev James Hight and seven members of his church pulled a trailer of supplies from Axton, Va on Friday and began knocking on doors in Tarboro asking if people needed help."
"Our mission was to extend God's loving hand in a very practical way to these people who needed it," Hight said. They. spent Saturday pulling out water logged carpet, pews and other items from His Majesty Church, where water had reached 9 * feet. Barbara Pittman said the help was an answer to her prayers..."Through it all I didn't cry, but this morning I saw all the work we had to do," said Pittman, whose husband is the bishop of the church. "I sat down and said, 'Lord, we just need some help. 'Then we heard the knock on the door. That was the first time I cried.".....

What the newspaper didn't say was that...the team was from Mount Calvary PHC in Axton, Va--Western North Carolina Conference.The Mount Calvary team will be back in the area this coming Friday and Saturday. Additionally, from the Western North Carolina Conference, Libby Cander- the WNC DRUSA Coordinator reports that she has a stand by team ready to go from the Charlotte First church

4. The South Carolina Conference Mobile Feeding Kitchen (MFK) has changed over the first team they sent and also provided additional supplies to the Kinston First site where they are located. At present o/a 6000 meals have been served. The Kinston First church has provided an augmentation team to assist the MFK.
Lessons Learned:

• (1) In interview after interview, people said that they were prepared for the winds...but were completely off guard at the fast rising water and flooding.
• (2) As we are prepared to request and dispatch disaster recovery teams into the target area for debris clean up and mud out operations...it appears in a number of locations this will not be necessary--due to flooding and homes being under water,... the property is a complete loss and recovery/clean up won't be needed.

Did You Know:There is a draft manual tailored for the Conference and Disaster Relief/Recovery..One item in it is a color code to identify the position of the person wearing the hat or shirt;

• Ministry/Conference Coordinators=White
• On-Site Coordinator=Red
• Recovery Volunteer= Maroon
• Feeding Volunteer= Green
  

These are beginning to be seen in the target area. DRUSA/Men's's Ministries is responsible to stock these items. Prices are not fixed- as we are trying to bid down the costs- e..g at present the hats are $5 each or 5 for $4. each- already the Georgia Conference has ordered hats, and hats are on the way to Mount Calvary in the WNC. Our goal is eventually to require our volunteers to wear the appropriate gear- and hopefully for the local church/conference to obtain it and issue it once the volunteer has met the required training. Based on our research with the Southern Baptist- they recommend a volunteer have at least 3 shirts for deployment into a target area. They give the volunteer the first one free after training and the volunteer buys the other two..Just thought you'd like to know that we are moving forward... with DRUSA...

End of report

Jack Kelley
DRUSA Coordinator
General Director, Men's Ministries
(910) 323-4777
e-mail "jkelley@iphc.org"
fax-(910) 485-1050