Colorado Baptists Display Christ's Love for Storm Victims
By RMB Staff
Westcliffe-Residents along the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains endured snapping trees, downed power lines, and damage to their homes and businesses as wind gusts of more than 100 mph whipped into Westcliffe the evening of Nov. 12 and continued into the next morning.
As volunteers arrived to assist with the clean up, it was First Baptist Church of Westcliffe who first opened its doors. The church hosted the Colorado Baptist Disaster Relief Team and helped feed the 39 volunteers who came from all over the state. Base operations were moved in the following weeks to Horn Creek Christian Camp, which had sustained a lot of damage from the storm and was one of the clean-up sites for the DR team.
Colorado’s disaster relief team completed eight out of 10 assignments before being stalled by winter weather. Through Dec. 2 the sounds of chainsaws, equipment and disaster relief volunteers filled the valley as they helped a community recover from the havoc wreaked by the storm. Some jobs were more challenging than others, such as the repairs needed at Horn Creek Camp and Hermit Basin Conference Center. Others were difficult to begin as weather and road conditions prevented the team from accessing one property. Volunteers were pleased to discover a local logging company took on one of the jobs. Throughout the community there is still a lot of damage and tree work to be done, but crews will have to wait until spring or good weather conditions.
When the teams were working a site they would look for opportunities to share the gospel. Unfortunately, with this deployment there didn’t seem to be very many opportunities for direct ministry contact. Still, seeds were sown and a community was impacted by the love of Christ lived out through the lives of 39 volunteers who left the comforts of home to come and do a lot of hard work for people they didn’t even know.
In their appreciation, Custer County officials sent the following letter Dec. 5”
To the Colorado Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Team,
Custer County would like to express its gratitude to all the wonderful dedicated volunteers that came to our county to assist with the windstorm cleanup that occurred Nov. 12 - 13. The amount of down trees and loss of power in our area was overwhelming for many of our residents on the west side of the valley. It was great to be able to reassure homeowners that qualified trained help was available to those in need.
A special thank you to Steve Priestly who initially coordinated with the Custer County Office of Emergency Management to begin the process of activating a team. His professionalism and compassion for the citizens of Custer County was evident from the first meeting. Steve and the team members had an amazing positive impact on our community.
We are extremely grateful for what you have done in Custer County and thank you for serving our nation at the local level in times of need.
Custer County’s chairman, vice-chair and commissioner signed the letter.
Colorado Disaster Relief volunteers are skilled, trained, dedicated people who come from Southern Baptist churches throughout Colorado. Being trained, prepared and available when a disaster strikes is key to leaving a positive impact on a community and opens the door for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Colorado Disaster Relief offers training and certification of Disaster Relief volunteers. For more information about future training opportunities, please go to the web site ColoradoBaptists.org
