Spent last evening at a pep rally getting "fired up" to help build a home in 106 hours! Extreme Makeover Home Edition is coming to Bastrop next week. We do not know who the lucky family will be, but they need 3000 volunteers to make this happen. We showed the producers a great Texas welcome. Now let's show them that Central Texas can make this happen!
Mark Klym
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Bastrop, TX Disaster Assistance
By Jana Copeland
On Sept. 4, when the Labor Day Fires began, members of the Bastrop Church of Christ had no idea what our “place” would be in the community with our offer to help. We took a step out in faith and quickly became a Disaster Assistance Relief Center.
We offered help and began getting donations of all kinds coming in from the community, other churches, out of state as far away as Maine and even as far as a little island off the South of Pacific in the American Samoa territory called Pago Pago.
“Just the outpouring of all the help coming in, it surprised me and touched me that anyone that far away knows about what is going on in Bastrop and chose us to send a donation to,” said Smith “Smitty” Covey, an elder at the church.
Jimmy Copeland, another elder at the church, said “Just so much compassion and generosity being shown, even by those who lost their own homes, is a true blessing to experience and it has touched my heart.”
One of the biggest suppliers of food and supplies has come from Church of Christ Disaster Relief, Inc. from Nashville, Tenn. They have delivered three semi truck loads of food and supplies worth more than $250,000. Most of those supplies have been handed out to those who came looking for immediate food and supplies. They supplied us with the means to hand out boxes of non-perishable foods for families of four, five-gallon buckets of cleaning supplies, boxes of personal items, boxes of items for infants, shovels, rakes, mops, brooms, bleach, laundry, dish soap and more. Texas Boot Company out of Bastrop donated boxes and boxes of jeans, which has been such a blessing to so many.
God’s grace
By God’s gracious mercy and love, we have been supplied with the means to help well over 1,000 families, so far, and we are averaging about 80 fire victim families visiting and collecting food and supplies a day, on the days we are open. We hope to be able to continue to supply non-perishable foods and all types of supplies as well as household items and furniture.
As those who lost their homes are getting into more permanent housing, their needs are changing and we are phasing some things out and changing what we offer to meet those new needs. When asked what the church’s goal was and if there was a time frame for shutting the relief down, Ted Bowers, one of four elders, said, “Our goal here is to help those in need for as long as there is a need. We can’t put an expiration date on it. We are trying to walk in the way of the scriptures, as Galations 5:6, says that the only thing that counts, is faith expressing itself through love, and further down in Galations 6:9 it says to not let us grow weary in doing good.”
The Disaster Assistance COC, Mike Baumgartner from Lake Jackson who is associated with Lake Jackson Church of Christ, has a mobile kitchen unit set up on the church grounds and provides meals twice a day for fire victims, firefighters, police and volunteers to eat here or pick up and take home. To visit their web site go to www.disaster
assistancecoc.com. Mike has been a blessing here to all of us, by feeding us and also bringing in a lot of volunteers through his contacts from previous missions where he has been set up.
We have been blessed with volunteers from all over, on a daily basis, who have worked endlessly on sorting and organizing all the clothes, dishes, food pantry items, loading and unloading trailers of everything from basic canned foods to whole bedroom suites. What a blessing and wonderful thing to see the outpouring of love, kindness and generosity for those who lost so much in the Labor Day Fires. We have groups of volunteers who go out and clean up homesites, as well.
What a blessing it has been for those who have found themselves with nothing, being provided so much by their fellow community peers. Ronnie Morris, one of the four elders at the Bastrop Church of Christ who is heading up the volunteers who clean up home sites, said, “Just to look on the volunteers’ ash-covered faces when a site is marked clean is a blessing to all of us and has touched me more than I can express.”
Thanksgiving dinner
We are planning a Thanksgiving dinner for the entire community and also anyone involved in the Bastrop fires, including firefighters, police, volunteers and families whose homes were affected on Saturday, Nov. 12 from noon to 3 p.m. Please spread the word and let everyone know that we are serving Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings, as we count and give thanks for all the blessings we do have. We are sure that God’s love and compassion is being shown through all who are here volunteering and donating.
Distribution times
Our days and hours of distribution for fire victims are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. We can use volunteers seven days a week to sort and organize the donations. We are accepting donations of furniture, household items and gift cards still.
On Sept. 4, when the Labor Day Fires began, members of the Bastrop Church of Christ had no idea what our “place” would be in the community with our offer to help. We took a step out in faith and quickly became a Disaster Assistance Relief Center.
We offered help and began getting donations of all kinds coming in from the community, other churches, out of state as far away as Maine and even as far as a little island off the South of Pacific in the American Samoa territory called Pago Pago.
“Just the outpouring of all the help coming in, it surprised me and touched me that anyone that far away knows about what is going on in Bastrop and chose us to send a donation to,” said Smith “Smitty” Covey, an elder at the church.
Jimmy Copeland, another elder at the church, said “Just so much compassion and generosity being shown, even by those who lost their own homes, is a true blessing to experience and it has touched my heart.”
One of the biggest suppliers of food and supplies has come from Church of Christ Disaster Relief, Inc. from Nashville, Tenn. They have delivered three semi truck loads of food and supplies worth more than $250,000. Most of those supplies have been handed out to those who came looking for immediate food and supplies. They supplied us with the means to hand out boxes of non-perishable foods for families of four, five-gallon buckets of cleaning supplies, boxes of personal items, boxes of items for infants, shovels, rakes, mops, brooms, bleach, laundry, dish soap and more. Texas Boot Company out of Bastrop donated boxes and boxes of jeans, which has been such a blessing to so many.
God’s grace
By God’s gracious mercy and love, we have been supplied with the means to help well over 1,000 families, so far, and we are averaging about 80 fire victim families visiting and collecting food and supplies a day, on the days we are open. We hope to be able to continue to supply non-perishable foods and all types of supplies as well as household items and furniture.
As those who lost their homes are getting into more permanent housing, their needs are changing and we are phasing some things out and changing what we offer to meet those new needs. When asked what the church’s goal was and if there was a time frame for shutting the relief down, Ted Bowers, one of four elders, said, “Our goal here is to help those in need for as long as there is a need. We can’t put an expiration date on it. We are trying to walk in the way of the scriptures, as Galations 5:6, says that the only thing that counts, is faith expressing itself through love, and further down in Galations 6:9 it says to not let us grow weary in doing good.”
The Disaster Assistance COC, Mike Baumgartner from Lake Jackson who is associated with Lake Jackson Church of Christ, has a mobile kitchen unit set up on the church grounds and provides meals twice a day for fire victims, firefighters, police and volunteers to eat here or pick up and take home. To visit their web site go to www.disaster
assistancecoc.com. Mike has been a blessing here to all of us, by feeding us and also bringing in a lot of volunteers through his contacts from previous missions where he has been set up.
We have been blessed with volunteers from all over, on a daily basis, who have worked endlessly on sorting and organizing all the clothes, dishes, food pantry items, loading and unloading trailers of everything from basic canned foods to whole bedroom suites. What a blessing and wonderful thing to see the outpouring of love, kindness and generosity for those who lost so much in the Labor Day Fires. We have groups of volunteers who go out and clean up homesites, as well.
What a blessing it has been for those who have found themselves with nothing, being provided so much by their fellow community peers. Ronnie Morris, one of the four elders at the Bastrop Church of Christ who is heading up the volunteers who clean up home sites, said, “Just to look on the volunteers’ ash-covered faces when a site is marked clean is a blessing to all of us and has touched me more than I can express.”
Thanksgiving dinner
We are planning a Thanksgiving dinner for the entire community and also anyone involved in the Bastrop fires, including firefighters, police, volunteers and families whose homes were affected on Saturday, Nov. 12 from noon to 3 p.m. Please spread the word and let everyone know that we are serving Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings, as we count and give thanks for all the blessings we do have. We are sure that God’s love and compassion is being shown through all who are here volunteering and donating.
Distribution times
Our days and hours of distribution for fire victims are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. We can use volunteers seven days a week to sort and organize the donations. We are accepting donations of furniture, household items and gift cards still.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Below is letter that was sent to the Bastrop Church of Christ.
Dear Church of Christ Volunteers
Coming to your disaster relief center has been and is the bright spot in the center of all this turmoil.
It has been such a pleasure to discover true Christians, people who have clearly read the gospels and intend to live the life Christ tells us will not only make us happy but will lead to a heaven with him.
Thank you so much for all you have done to make this experience bearable. Thank you for everything.
Coming to your disaster relief center has been and is the bright spot in the center of all this turmoil.
It has been such a pleasure to discover true Christians, people who have clearly read the gospels and intend to live the life Christ tells us will not only make us happy but will lead to a heaven with him.
Thank you so much for all you have done to make this experience bearable. Thank you for everything.
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