South Carolina Disaster Relief is one of many states working together to assist residents of Vermont who were affected by catastrophic flooding several weeks ago. Our teams are working in Barre, VT. The response is expected to last until Labor Day.

Recovery (Mud-Out)
Unlike many floods where they deal with homes that had filthy water in them, the Mud-Out units in this response are finding homes with 8-12 inches of mud on the floor. It makes for slow going to have to remove all that mud before you can even begin to do a tear-out of the ruined flooring and walls! In addition to the three Mud-Out units that have served and two others scheduled, SC has one volunteer staying at the site long-term to do assessments and mold-spraying.

Shower/Laundry
Our volunteers are working in units provided by New York and Maryland. They have been serving residents of a small Red Cross shelter plus the DR teams. The shelter closes at the end of this week. Two SC Shower/Laundry teams have served, and four others are scheduled to serve in August.

Feeding
Early on, the feeding teams were doing meals for the shelter residents, DR volunteers, and lunch for the community in general. That has gradually narrowed down. When the shelter closes, that will leave only the DR volunteers to feed. Our teams have been cooking in small mobile kitchens, called Quick Response Units (QRUs), provided by Pennsylvania and Ohio. One feeding team has served, with three others scheduled.

Spiritual Response
The DR volunteers have had 472 spiritual discussions with Vermonters, giving encouragement in the crisis and pointing them to Jesus. One of our units saw 2 salvations among homeowners they worked with last week!

Volunteers Needed
We still need 4 trained shower/laundry volunteers who can leave SC on 8/18 and return on 8/28. If you are available to meet this need, please contact Sue Harmon, sueharmon@scbaptist.org or 803-227-6149 as soon as possible!

Remember, if you can’t go, you can pray and give to support the DR efforts.