Long-Term Plans and UPDATES

May 4, 2011

We are beginning to finalize our plans for long-term help - communities with which we want to partner until they are restored.

Four Long-Term Partnerships:

• JUST ADDED (MAY 4, 7 PM): Huntsville - Robbie White, of Locust Grove Baptist Church in the Huntsville area, and I identified a “forgotten  community" out Railroad Bed Road today that we believe we will be working with the next year. Locust Grove is taking the lead, but I hope to partner them in any way another church wants to come along side.
  We'll share more information about this area soon.

• With FBC Williams and the Webster's Chapel area. We will work with the church to assist them in ways they are seeking to bring hope and restoration to this community. My hope is to cluster several churches, both within Alabama and beyond, with them as they work day by day to help their community. We have several churches who have either committed to this relationship or soon will. Follow their needs and updates at: http://fbcwilliams.org/ or Facebook: www.facebook.com/fbcwilliams.

• With McDonalds Chapel area of Birmingham. We are making a commitment to join the initiative of one of our churches, Covenant in Elba, to stay with the people of this area at least until the one year anniversary of the storm (Mart Gray - mart@troycable.net or 334-806-8118). Watch the ALCBF website, Facebook (www.facebook.com/pages/Alabama-CBF/128023893914974) and email updates as this project develops. Our prayer is that a few churches in the Birmingham area will join Mart and Covenant and help organize a plan where we can transform life in that small community and allow many people to serve someone in Alabama.

• I want you to have a little info about McDonalds Chapel: http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/04/alabama_tornadoes_people_in_ha.html. We could have selected many areas to help, but we will focus a plan here.

• With Calvary Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa. We have been invited to serve with Calvary as they develop and carry out a plan to restore housing in the Rosedale Court area of Tuscaloosa. This will be help to folks who do not have the means to return to housing without our help. Again watch for details as this partnership develops. We are praying that two or three churches in our CBF family will join Calvary. Follow their needs and updates at: www.calvarytuscaloosa.org/tornadorelief/.

In all these areas, ALCBF will be a resource for connecting our congregations, colleagues, and volunteers around our region and calling for help with our partner, Volunteers of America.

Church leaders: if you want some information or guidence to help decide which project with which to connect, please contact Terri or I (see contact info below). Also Terri is working with Shades Crest Baptist in Birmingham (www.shadescrest.org) to house groups there at the church that begin to help us in Alabama. The need for this may grow. If your church would be willing to house volunteers, let us know (see contact info below).

Some immediate ways to help:

• Below you will find an updated list for supplies being sent to these places. We really need you to transport the goods directly to the sites, if possible. If that is not possible, you may drop off goods at Shades Crest Baptist between 10-3 or Passport Inc (www.passportcamps.org) during the same hours. Again, we are a small staff and organization, so make the direct calls and connections where you can - including delivery.

• Here are the sites receiving supplies now:

First Baptist Church of Williams
5579 Nisbet Lake Road
Jacksonville, AL 36265
http://fbcwilliams.org/  

First Baptist Church
106 Grand Avenue North
Fort Payne, AL 35967
(Please note, the website given earlier is no longer active.)

Woodland Forest Baptist Church
6701 Hargrove Road East
Tuscaloosa, AL 35405
www.woodlandforestbaptist.org


This is very fluid and we may try to stop deliveries when the need has been met.

Please: NO CLOTHES at this time. This need has been met for now. If that changes, we will let you know.

• Some of you want to help immediately in Tuscaloosa. While we do not have on-the-ground work set up yet, one place you may go is FBC Tuscaloosa. At 8 am and 1 pm, they are sending volunteers out through Samaritans Purse. My son has been volunteering there and has found plenty to do. There is a lot of information on websites in all areas for immediate relief work. We will not try and duplicate that.

• Many of you are at work with projects through your own church. If we can help with that we will try, especially connecting volunteers and resources with what you are doing. We are working now with folks in the Huntsville area to see what we can do to help there.

Financial Donations:

• Here is our thinking on donations for now. If your church has a need and plan for relief, we feel your money is best used for an emergency at home. If you decide, or people within your congregation desire, to donate beyond your local projects, it would help us if they would make a check to your church marked for ALCBF disaster relief. Then the church can periodically send ALCBF a check of the accumulation of donations (ALCBF, 2539 John Hawkins Parkway, Suite 101, PMB 113, Birmingham, AL, 35244). We are a small staff, and this would help greatly with administration of the funds and offering tax credit. We certainly are glad for individuals to donate to us, and we will facilitate this directly as well. In our conversation with National CBF, we feel the money gets where it needs to go quicker by donating it straight to ALCBF.

We are so moved by the compassion of people, especially in our CBF family.

rb


Ronnie Brewer -
ronnie@alabamacbf.org
256-509-8342

Terri Byrd -
terri@alabamacbf.org
205.835.8117

Natalie Aho -
natalie@alabamacbf.org

 
 
Supplies Needed:

See URGENT Supplies Update above.