Published: September 29, 2008 12:20 pm      

Locals join in relief efforts

DUNCAN — They say that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, but for certain local emergency rescue personnel, the journey began with a single rotation of the wheel.

Early Wednesday, as the sun was creeping above the horizon, 11 people gathered outside First Baptist Church near 10th and Oak in Duncan to load a van with personal belongings and gear.

They are members of the disaster recovery chain-saw unit for the Southern Baptist Convention’s disaster relief unit in Oklahoma.

Once all their belongings were loaded, they began the seven-hour or so journey south to the Galveston, Texas, area. They will stay there an entire week assisting local crews with cleanup efforts from the recent hurricanes.

Mitch Crook, who was going to Galveston to help clean up for the first time, said that he was excited to go down.

“I went to help with Katrina and helped clean mud out,” Crook said. “They called me up a week ago or so to go with them.”

Ruben Alexander, who recently retired from the Stephens County Sheriff’s Department, said he was excited to be able to go down and assist in the efforts.

Shelley Morcom, who along with her husband, Steve, left a day earlier to assess the situation and find jobs for the chain-saw group, said that the damage in Galveston is unfathomable.

“It is unbelievable down here,” Morcom said. “It’s pretty horrible.”

Dick Greenwood, who has gone with the group to past disaster areas in Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, said that there are different disaster relief units that are sent out, such as units to clean up mud, use chain saws, feed people and provide child care.

Greenwood said that the units work together after a disaster to clear driveways, remove debris from the top of homes and surrounding areas so that people can return to living at home.

“We have four chainsaws,” Greenwood said. “Four people will run the chainsaws, someone will supervise and others will haul wood to the curb.”

They train twice a year to be able to go on these trips, he said. Damon Phillips, who drove the crew down to Houston, said that there will be a heavy machine operator to haul off the large materials.

Besides cleaning up debris, Southern Baptists provide a feeding unit that can serve up to 3,000 people a day, Greenwood said.

“Southern Baptist has already served over 2.5 million people since Hurricane Gustav struck,” Greenwood said.

The crew will stay in the Galveston area until it is called upon to move elsewhere.