Victim Relief is in the process of gearing up for dispatch to the hurricane in Texas. We have been in constant contact with local, state and federal authorities. We are working with partners and churches and have committed a great deal of assistance to the victims. We will have more information as things unfold this week.
[email protected]
PO Box 250515, Plano, TX 75025
Victim Relief
Basic Training
As a reminder, basic (2-day) training is coming up soon.
March 17th and 18th.
To register for training, Click Here
Baton Rouge Flooding – August, 2016
In August, VRM responded to a flooding event for the sixth time in 2016 when we sent a team to Baton Rouge. Chaplains and Crisis Responders from Dallas, Houston and Louisiana responded to the Zoar Baptist Church in Baton Rouge on August 25th and spent a week providing emotional and spritural care to those who had suffered damage and those helping them.
We were shown favor when after checking with a FEMA disaster recovery tent, they asked us to staff a chaplain at their facility. We were able to minister to a lot of people who came and had to wait for their turn to meet with a FEMA representative to request aid. We also did some door to door ministry in the areas that were the hardest hit and visited some churches to see what kind of aid they needed to keep going.
Prior to our physical response to Baton Rouge, we worked with partners such as Somebody Cares, to coordinate water and aid into churches in the affected area. While in the area, we stopped by some of these churches to see how they were doing and if there was any further aid we could provide.
Dallas Area Tornado – December 2015
On December 26 of 2015, tornadoes came into the Dallas-Fort Worth area inflicting great damage in a swath of destruction that hit North Midlothian-Glenn Heights in Ellis County to Garland and Rowlett in Dallas County and up into Collin County with loss of life before the storm system moved on into East Texas and other parts of the U.S.
In the first quarter of 2016, VRM continued the response to this storm that began on the night of December 26, 2015. After establishing a partnership with the First Baptist Church of Rowlett, VRM used this church as a hub to base operations that continued until January 16th. VRM help organize the church as a distribution center of donated relief supplies and gave emotional and spiritual care to church members and staff helping at the location. Operations were scaled back on January 4th, but continued until January 16th and ministry and help is continuing with a few families.
Highlights of the response through January 16th:
- VRM Incident Command System stood up and VRM response teams came in from Collin County, East Texas, Greater Dallas area and Arlington and Grand Prairie.
- VRM Chaplains were embedded with CERT teams that were out doing damage assessment and VRM Chaplains visited with neighbors to give emotional and spiritual support.
- VRM supplied 10 Chaplains and Crisis Responders to the Red Cross Shelter at the Longview Elementary school in Ellis County thru January 3rd.
- VRM teams provided care support to FBC Rowlett and the Methodist Church across the street for survivors coming in for help and information.
- Manned a table at a Victim’s conference at Eastfield College in support of tornado victims.
- Continued to monitor the recovery efforts and check with with partners and families that were affected by the storm.