The Trion Distribution Center is now history. On 6:00 Friday evening, Oct. 9, we closed the doors for the last time.

Final statistics

Families served: 166
Repeats: 217
Individuals served: 584

There were a total of 25 volunteers (in addition to the police officers who helped us, but were counted under their own system), and those volunteers put in a total of 774 hours of donated time.

There were 6069 items given away, however a lot of these items in kit form, so the total numbers of items was much higher. And this number does not reflect the water that was distributed since the water in Trion was non-drinkable for over a week.

We served nearly every family that was affected by the flood, some several times, as the “repeat” statistic indicates. This was done over a 2-week period. Over 50% of our clientele were undocumented, and most of these were Guatemalans. It soon became apparent to these folks that, because of their status as illegal aliens, FEMA could not help them unless they had children who were born in this country, and were thus citizens. Therefore, the only help they could expect to get was through our Distribution Center.

There are 2 concerns when operating one of our facilities during a disaster. First and foremost, of course, is to be sure the victims get the friendliest and most efficient service that we can provide for them. In this, ACS/DR has become most proficient, and this time was no exception – the statistics bear that out.

The second concern is the over-all effect our service has on the community we are serving. There is sometimes a fine line between expectations and reality, and if that line is crossed, feelings can be hurt, misunderstandings can occur and disrepute brought upon the church.

This did not happen here – in fact, I have never seen it happen in the Georgia-Cumberland Conference.

Our center soon turned into a gathering place for local officials who had been turned out of City Hall and the Police Department because those facilities had been flooded. Nearly every day Benny Perry, mayor, and at least one city councilman (usually Johnny Simmons) spent the greater part of the day with us. Chad Spraggins, police chief, was there when he wasn’t needed elsewhere, as were most of his police force at one time or another. We developed a close attachment to all these people, plus members of the fire department, public works department, as well as pastors of some of the area churches. It is with a certain amount of sadness that we leave Trion. Robby Ebersole, pastor of the Pennville Church of Christ and Vernon Johnson, pastor of the First Baptist Church worked closely with us, and we became fast friends. Ed Skortz, pastor of the Summerville Seventh-day Adventist Church (and former Disaster Response director for Georgia-Cumberland Conference), told me he felt that much had been accomplished in building the church’s stature in that community because of the distribution center. He became well-acquainted with the mayor, councilman, police chief and others of the community who he probably would not have had the opportunity to meet otherwise.

I heard some good theology while I was there:

One young man who volunteered the first Sabbath we were open told Paul Seifert, our systems manager, several times that he wouldn’t be coming to work the next day (Sunday) because the Bible tells us not to work on that day. Paul finally paused in his work and told the young man that the Bible was referring to the Sabbath, and that anyway, we didn’t consider helping people in desperate need as working.

The next Sabbath, as we arrived to work, city councilman Simmons met us and told us that he really appreciated us helping his citizens, even though it was “your” Sabbath. Henry Beaulieu, distribution center manager, put his arm around Mr. Simmons’ shoulders and told him: “It’s not ‘your’ Sabbath, it’s ‘our’ Sabbath – God gave it to all of us at Creation.”

Ed Skoretz found out the FEMA Manager was a former Adventist, so called him and invited him to come and speak at the Summerville Church some Sabbath about his work with FEMA. He told Ed that his mother had always wanted him to become a preacher, and he eagerly accepted.

Perry took all of our management staff to supper last night to show the town’s appreciation for our work. We were joined by Spraggins and Steve Fountain, officer, and their wives. Fountain worked with us nearly every day, and we became quite close friends. We had a wonderful time. I handed out a final report to the Mayor and Police Chief, which they were grateful for. While we were eating, the County Emergency Management Director Eddie Henderson called the Police Chief and told him he had to speak at a meeting the next night, and wanted to get some facts for his speech. Chad just opened my Final Report and read to him from that. I had already prepared a report for Eddie, so he’ll have his own copy.

This has been a very effective response, and I’d like to thank all the management staff, as well as those volunteers from the Summerville Church who came and worked with us. God blessed us again. It’s easy to see Him work when we try to help His people who are hurting. We can always depend on His support during these events. 

Shared by the Georgia-Cumberland Conference Disaster Response Management Team:

Terry Haight, Coordinator
Henry Beaulieu, Operations Manager
Paul Seifert, Systems manager
Rhonda Haight, Office and Distribution Manager

 

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Georgia-Cumberland Conference Mission for Serving Others:
Serve others and build relationships through involvement in a wide variety of community activities and agencies.