Virginia Baptists' disaster relief ministry will conduct five training events in 2005.

All sessions are two-day events, begining at 6 p.m. on a Friday and concluding at 3 p.m. on a Saturday. Training will include orientation in disaster relief, mass feeding, recovery (mud out, chain saw, rebuild) and water purification.

Training sesssions will be held:

• March 11-12 at First Baptist Church in Newport News (Peninsula Baptist Association).

• April 1-2 at a location to be announced in the Southside Baptist Association.

• April 15-16 at Smithfield Baptist Church in Smithfield (Blackwater Baptist Association).

• April 29-30 at a location to be announced in the Appomattox Baptist Association.

• May 13-14 at a location to be announced in the Goshen Baptist Association.

This training is required for those who volunteer to work with the mobile kitchen in times of disaster.

“During the last four years alone Virginia Baptist have responded to multiple disasters and served in the areas of feeding, mud out, rebuilding and international disaster relief efforts,” said Jim George, Virginia Baptists' disaster relief coordinator. “Churches of the Baptist General Association of Virginia saw the value and mission opportunities of disaster relief firsthand during the aftermath of Hurricane Isabel. More than 650,000 meals were prepared and residents of 1,000 homes ministered to during this response.

“2004 saw four hurricanes make landfall in Florida and also affect other states,” continued George. “Nearly 400 Virginia Baptist volunteers responded to these disasters, preparing over 100,000 meals and working on many homes.”

Disaster relief training is open to any person who is a member of a BGAV church and is 18 years of age and older. The cost of the training is $10 per person.

Interested persons may register by calling Martha Washington in the Virginia Baptist Resource Center at (800) 255-2428 or the local association office where the training is being held. Questions can also be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Special to the Herald

---

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Readers alone are responsible for the content of the comments they post here. The comments are subject to the site’s terms and conditions of use and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or approval of the Religious Herald. Readers whose comments violate the terms of use may have their comments removed or all of their content blocked from viewing by other users without notification.

Write comment

You must be logged in to post a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.