(Photo: AP/The Advocate Messenger, Clay Jackson)Cots and people seeking shelter in the aftermath of the ice storm are lined up at Boyle County High School in Danville, Ky., on Friday, Jan. 30, 2009. The crippling winter storm has plunged about a million customers into the dark from the Midwest to the East Coast, and thousands of people in ice-caked Kentucky have sought refuge in motels and shelters.
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Churches and their affiliated relief arms are opening their doors and providing aid to help residents in the Midwest struck by a severe ice storm that had left more than a million homes and businesses without power.
After the massive winter storm last week, Second Baptist Church in Greenville, Ky., opened its doors to house and feed hundreds of local residents seeking refuge from the cold. The church over the past week has housed 600 people, providing them with three meals a day, according to the disaster relief group Operation Blessing International.
OBI has been working with Second Baptist Church to help keep local residents clean, warm and fed. The relief group had secured a 250-gallon propane tank to provide residents with their first hot shower since the storm hit, OBI reported.
In addition to the hot shower, the Christian relief group had also purchased heaters to keep residents warm and a deep freezer to support the church’s feeding operations.
“As of Saturday, they were still housing 171 people,” said Jody Herrington, OBI’s U.S. director of disaster relief. “The church did not have the finances for supplies so this was a huge blessing to them.”
An OBI Hunger Strike Force truck was dispatched last week from its Virginia-based warehouse to Kentucky’s Muhlenberg County Emergency Operations Center filled with nearly 18,000 pounds of disaster relief supplies that included 3,108 blankets, 3,500 bottles of water and 1,750 meals-ready-to-eat.
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The group’s relief teams also distributed $10,000 worth of heaters and fuel cans to residents without power, noting that some residents – primarily farmers and elderly residents – remained at their homes.
“By being able to respond so quickly to the need – within 24 hours of getting the request – we were truly able to bring relief in real time and help these disaster victims,” Herrington said.
The North American Mission Board, meanwhile, reported that its chainsaw teams are helping with cleanup efforts in Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Ohio. NAMB has also dispatched feeding units and by Monday has served more than 17,000 meals.
Shower units have also been set up in several affected communities by the Southern Baptist Convention-related ministry.
The ice storm last week was the worst natural disaster Kentucky has seen in modern history. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear said Monday the storm had killed at least 24 people in the state, according to The Associated Press. The estimated cost of cleanup is estimated to be more than $45 million for Kentucky alone.
Gov. Beshear is asking President Obama to declare a major disaster in Kentucky so that the state would have immediate access to federal financial assistance.
As of Monday, more than 300,000 Kentucky residents remained without power.
Besides Kentucky, the ice storm also struck Arkansas, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
OBI’s partnering ministry, Day of Hope, is providing food and aid to affected residents in Caruthersville, Mo.
Christian relief teams from Samaritan’s Purse are also working in Missouri to help residents affected by the ice storm. Samaritan’s Purse dispatched a disaster relief team unit to Poplar Bluff, Mo., on Thursday. The staff and volunteers are working to remove downed trees and debris.
Meanwhile, the Assemblies of God reported that its churches are working with the Red Cross and opening their church doors to residents in Oklahoma and Arkansas.
The denomination’s relief arm, Convoy of Hope, has delivered two trucks loads of bottled water and Meals-Ready-to-Eat that total 80,000 pounds to hard-hit areas in north Arkansas and Missouri. Another 80,000 pounds of supplies were delivered to Kentucky and Missouri on Monday.
