Rapid Reponse Team Update

By   •   June 22, 2009

Winds between 90 and 110 miles per hour accompanied by large hail pieces – some as large as softballs – caused damage to many homes in the area.

The Rapid Response Team is partnering with Samaritan’s Purse with an initial assessment of 10 to 15 homes. That number could climb to as many as 50 homes with work orders.

Stay tuned for stories from this deployment.

Lasting life change in Florida

While passing through Holly Hill, FL in the aftermath of the recent flooding, a team of Samaritan’s Purse volunteers discovered a tarp on Carlene’s roof as a result of storm damage.

When the team went back to camp for tools to help repair the roof, a woman came into the church building with an envelope of money and asked if they knew of anyone that needed help.

Thinking of Carlene, the volunteers took the money to her. Very soon after they left her home, the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team chaplains showed up. Through conversation, they discovered she has had a hard year – she is a single schoolteacher who had been laid off and still has not found full-time work. She also lost her parents and grandmother recently.

Fortunately, she began going to church a few months ago.

While she was telling the chaplains her story, they noticed her glasses were held together by paper clips and kept falling down. The chaplains offered to take her to have them fixed, and she agreed.

She said, “I just don’t know what’s going on today. I have never felt this much love in all my life.” Before the day was over, Carlene rededicated her life to Jesus.