Billy Graham Rapid Response Team Deploys Following Virginia Tornadoes
April 30, 2008 -- FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: Erik Ogren
(704) 577-2109 or eogren@bgea.org
CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 30, 2008 – The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team has deployed their crisis-trained chaplains in response to the tornadoes that tore through Virginia on Monday night. According to news reports, the tornadoes damaged more than 140 homes and injured at least 200 people. The largest volume of damage is in Suffolk, Virginia, located in the South Hampton Roads area of southeastern Virginia.
“The deployment will be centered in Suffolk,” said Jack Munday, director of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team. “We currently have two chaplains on-site in Virginia, and are expecting that the number will increase over the coming days as we seek to meet the needs of those affected by these storms.”
The deployment will be in support of the Emergency Operation Center, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management and Operation Blessing based in Virginia Beach, VA.
Once again, the Rapid Response Team will work alongside Samaritan’s Purse, a disaster relief organization also headed by Franklin Graham. “We value our relationship with Samaritan’s Purse,” says Munday. “In most tragic situations like this, there are many needs: physical, emotional and spiritual. When our two groups work together, it allows us to respond in a comprehensive way to all of these needs.”
This is the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team’s eighth deployment of 2008, following deployments to: Jackson and Lafayette, Tennessee and Clinton, Arkansas following the deadly tornadoes in the region; Northern Illinois University following the Valentines Day shooting of several students; Kenya, Africa (a training deployment educating pastors and church leaders in how to respond to the violence in their country earlier this year); and Piedmont and Delta, Missouri following flooding earlier this month.
The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team was developed following the attacks of September 11, 2001. It has since grown into a nationwide database of more than 2,600 chaplains and ministry volunteers who are specifically trained to deal with crisis situations.
For more information on the Rapid Response Team, visit billygraham.org/RapidResponse
