Hurricane Irene

Pray for Atlantic coastal areas as Hurricane Irene heads in as a major hurricane. Projected course is strafing by the North Carolina Outer Banks as a category 3 or 4 (up to 135 MPH winds) and continuing just offshore up New England. The last major hurricane to hit New York City flooded lower Manhattan with a 13 foot storm surge nearly 100 years ago. That could be a worse scenario that New Orleans was with Katrina.

Followup Article on Hurricane Ike Recovery

Two and a half years ago, Hurricane IKE flattened all but 1 house on a strand of beach on the Boulevar Peninsula. One house built higher and more solid than the others evaded the wave action that removed all neighboring construction. This CNN article follows up on the owners and the situation in Gilchrist Texas.

Please sign up for email updates in our new system

The link is in the top right corner of the blog: http://servantsunite.blogspot.com

I'm having a very difficult time getting email updates out. 50% are failing, most Hotmail addresses won't get updates due to spam filtering and a number of others are also failing.

To continue to get email updates of postings here sent to your email, please use the link to the left to enter your email address into Google's FeedBurner tool for Servants Unite. The email address will be used for no other purpose than this. I'm an IT Security guy.... you can trust me :-)

There will be a period where I'll continue to use the old system so you may get a couple of dups that way, but it is unavoidable. I'll send this signup link to any of the addresses I can get mail through to so they can sign up through the new system as well.

Thanks for continuing to follow what we are doing and continued participation in relieving suffering. There's a lot to go around right now. You are needed more than ever.

Servants Unite!

John McGuire

Jackson Ohio Flooding Mudouts Needed

Red Cross in Jackson is doing intake on needs after the flash flooding in Southeast Ohio this week. County EMA estimates 30-40 major or destroyed (destroyed usually means basement walls are caving in or foundation is unstable) and another 150 minor. That's a lot more than the media seems to be reporting.

If you wanted to help in Tuscaloosa or Memphis, but you just can't get off work, THIS IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY. The kewl thing is, we can work all day, drive an hour and a half home, get a shower and sleep in our own beds. If you are interested in working this weekend, let me know. Call, email, fb, whatever.

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Servants Unite!

John McGuire

Opportunity to send donations to Tuscaloosa

Since our Servants Unite trip keeps getting postponed, I'm going to add our donations to this effort leaving this weekend.


OK, it's official: the Maple Grove UMC Adult Mission Team is going to take supplies to the Hargrove UM church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on our way to New Orleans to work with Habitat. We will load a Penske truck (unless someone still comes through with a free truck) in the Maple Grove parking lot on Saturday, May 14 from 4 - 6 p.m. We are in need of a couple of people to load the truck - (maybe some of you who want to help with the mission trip but aren't able to go). Please let Bill Croy (bcroy22@gmail.com) know if you are willing to help in this way. We have arranged to leave the truck in Tuscaloosa and thus will not be in need of any extra drivers.

The supplies we will be taking to the tornado damaged area include the following: Household cleaning supplies, laundry detergent (liquid or dry), Clorox wipes, spray cleaners, paper towels, toilet paper, non-perishable foods (peanut butter, canned goods), scrub brushes, handi-wipes or reusable wipes, sponges, scouring pads, clothespins, clotheslines, heavy duty trash bags, dust masks, waterproof gloves, work gloves, It's important that items be either medium or small sizes (not the huge warehouse club sizes) because the items are distributed daily and are intended to handle 1 - 2 days of work. The distribution center at Hargrove UMC is open 7 days a week and they serve lunch and dinner every day.

Now, what would really be helpful is all donations being packed in a sealed cardboard box and it clearly marked on the outside what is in the box! This will help us with the packing - and not cause us to take time boxing items on Saturday!

OK: feel free to repost and send to others! Let's see what the internet, Facebook, phone calls can produce in less than 48 hours! Thanks for your help and we know the people of Tuscaloosa will be appreciative as well. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Bill at the above email address. Oh, and financial donations are welcome as well - checks made out to Maple Grove UMC will be used to purchase items and checks made out to Hargrove UMC for their daily lunch and dinner ministry to those helping cleanup Tuscaloosa and those who have lost everything! It would be helpful if we had the checks by 6:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Sincerely,

Bill Croy

I hate it when He tells me no...

...Or more properly not yet... It seems like a logical plan. It seems like honorable service... but He's still saying not yet. I'll appreciate all your prayers asking for why and when and what's this all about. If you get an answer for me, please forward it along.

For the 2nd time in two weeks I'm putting off a Servants Unite trip to Tuscaloosa. For various reasons most of those who have wanted to go can't yet. All the maybes were no when I tried to solidify the list today. and there are only three of us that were going to go. That plus I've been somewhat ill, have work commitments, and something kinda feels wrong about going even though it seems quite reasonable to me. I've pushed these things enough times to know that if it looks hopeless and He wants it to happen, He takes the barriers away, and if it seems reasonable, but He's against it, it doesn't really matter what I do to push it along, it's not happening, or there's a darn good reason He is telling me to wait. Patience is not one of my virtues... So unless something changes drastically in the next 24 hours indicating alternate instructions, no trip to Tuscaloosa for a few weeks still. I'll keep you posted.

Alabama (and other) Relief Will Continue

We have 4 people (ish) going Thursday targeting Tuscaloosa. There are also a dozen or so more people interested in going on later trips. Given the pace of recovery in Alabama and other tornado stricken areas and the 500 year flood taking place along the Mississippi River, there will be plenty of opportunities for more to go. If you are thinking about it, get me your contact info and preferred dates and I'll help get you hooked up with others to form a team.

If you'd still like to join this first team let me know ASAP. If you have supplies to send along, please get them to Westerville Christian Church ASAP. Here's the present list of attendees:

John McGuire
David McGuire
Rachel Creager
Kenny Nichols

Your prayers and contributions are very appreciated.

Volunteers Flood Tuscaloosa Today

A story from Tuscaloosa today describes traffic jams of volunteers of untold numbers showing up to help. Disaster relief is always fluid and never predictable.... We'll keep watching and plan accordingly.

Why is This Tornado Outbreak Different?

While out of the area response is not usually necessary for tornado events, this NOAA report released today shows an unrecorded density of tornadic storms last week.

305 tornadoes suspected, 190 on the 27-28 timeframe that included most of the Alabama damage. The previous 24 hour record was April 3-4 1974 @ 148 that included the infamous Xenia tornado.

This NOAA map of storm rotation highlights the severity of the storms, widespread effect, and the most damaged areas highlighted in bright yellow and red for the greatest rotation.

Here is the article explaining the map.

Reschedule Alabama Team 1 - May 12-18

I updated the information on the original blog post for our first trip. More people were available to go a week later, it gives us more time to get things in order, and that'll put us there when the local volunteers may start to wane so we can fill in some of the need. We may look at touching some outlying areas that may have been hard hit, but neglected and may start becoming more apparent by the time we get there.

You can find good first hand information about the changing conditions there at these sites:

http://gracedigest.com/2011/05/01/rising-from-the-rubble-in-tuscaloosa/

http://oneinjesus.info/ as well as other thoughts by Jay Guin

http://www.facebook.com/pages/SBC-Disaster-Relief/248933738262

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Updates

Lots of info here and here. As always, their crews are moving into the areas effected in large numbers.

Response Schedule

I'm rethinking the "leave Thursday 5/5" plan in favor of going a week later. Several have expressed an interest to go, but later. I'm also having a hard time getting organized with competing priorities.

Opinions and council from anyone reading is appreciated.

Other considerations, the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi are at an all time high flood level and extreme measures such as blowing levies to sacrifice rural areas in favor of population centers are being implemented.

When it rains it pours right?

Servants Unite!

John McGuire

Indications of the need for counselors on disaster relief missions

This CNN Story

"It's just an amazing, emotional roller coaster for these people," he said. "Once we were able to take a break from it and think about it, it was heartbreaking."

Tuscaloosa Bound Thursday May 12

Please ask to have this announced at your church Sunday morning and distributed through church emails, facebook pages, tweets, twits, or whatever works.

You can be serve
Servants Unite Alabama Team 1 will leave Thursday May 12 at 3:00pm from Westerville Christian Church 471 College Avenue, Westerville Ohio 43081
We will arrive at University Church of Christ in Tuscaloosa around midnight central time
We will work long days Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There may be an option for some to return Sunday evening. Depending on the situation we will continue to work into Wednesday afternoon, then head home. That will get us back at Westerville Christian after midnight Wednesday night.

We'll know more after we spend a few days down there, but there will likely be an opportunity for other teams to go and help in the coming weeks.

You can help from here
Please ask your churches to be collecting the following items that we can take to distribute or get supplies nearby if available:

• Personal care items - soap, shampoo, razors, deodorant, tooth brush, toothpaste, etc.
• Baby care items - diapers, wipes, bottles, formula, etc.
• Water and gator aid
• Tarps
• Gift Cards - Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart (there aren't krogers or giant eagles in Tuscaloosa ;-)
• Cash - to help with travel expenses, food, and other needs in Tuscaloosa
• Prayers

These things need to get to Westerville Christian. If you have a lot and can't get it there, please let me know and we'll arrange a pickup. If you collect more after Thursday, that is OK. There will probably be additional teams and I'll be sure to get what we have delivered to the area whether or no and it will be needed.

There are a lot of places we could work, but we have a relationship with this church who has housed many of our volunteers overnight and fed us all so well on the road for Katrina relief. It's a small honor to be able to help them in their time of need.

Like after any large disaster there is much uncertainty. These trips are always like that. We will know a lot more this time next week after being on the ground and working for a few days. Everything we learn will appear on the blog here.

You should plan to bring:

• Air mattress
• Sleeping bag
• Pillow
• 6 days worth of grungy clothes (something clean to wear home)
• Sturdy shoes/boots with thick soles. Steel toes may be beneficial
• Basic personal care needs -toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, deodorant (this is not a beauty contest)
• Work gloves
• Dust Masks (N95 are best)
• Tools - chain saw, sawzall, pry bars, shovels, sword (Bible :-)

As always, the most important job is to listen to people's stories and help them with their needs, emotional, spiritual, and physical.

Thanks for serving.

Servants Unite!

John McGuire

Volumes of Tuscaloosa Tornado Information

Jay Guin at University Church of Christ in Tuscaloosa has been putting together a lot of interesting and useful information. Rather than try to re-create that

See his blog here. I'm sure I'll reference it more as we move forward.

Specifically he references a radar map of the tornadic storms crossing Alabama. Rather than a line of storms, it's a chain of individual storms. I see 15 distinct bow echos that indicate the cells are Tornadic.

There's also a concise map of tornado paths.

University Church is now accepting volunteers. Tentative departure date for a team is next Thursday evening, May 5 from Westerville Christian Church at 6:00. This may well change as we work out details, but that's something to shoot for. Several have already volunteered to go.

Jay has a list of items needed near the end of this blog post.

We're Going....

I don't know where and don't yet know what we need, or who is available to lead teams. Start letting me know if you are interested. Phone and email are to the side and you can reach me on facebook too.

PLEASE PRAY FOR DISCERNMENT. There's too much to absorb and sort out right now.

I know of 4 bad off locations hundreds of miles apart where we have connections.
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University Church of Christ in Tuscaloosa is just a block north of the tornado path as is the church of another friend, Church of the Highlands, there who is starting up a relief effort. Homewood Church of Christ in southwest Birmingham has also hosted teams. My friend was the preacher there till a month ago. The building is fine, but there is "death and destruction" all around. The state VOAD is apparently not engaged, but that may change. No other organizing group has surfaced to lead unaffiliated groups like ours in intake and volunteer organizing like Hands On Nashville did after the floods there last year. There is a likelihood the damage and loss of life is much greater than has been reported. There is also a water shortage as the storm took out several water storage towers.

Monrovia Church of Christ in Huntsville wants to start up a "Tammany Oaks" style relief operation there. Tim Hines called with that info an hour ago.

Chrissy Wyatt, one of our Hilltop Rescue buddies in Chattanooga reports that areas 10 miles east of there and down into Ringold Georgia are really bad as well.

I can't decide where to go first, or whether I personally can go at all. Southern Baptist Disaster Relief groups report on their fb page that they are deploying all over the region. Information should start to gel in the next couple of days, but like Katrina, nobody knew the whole story till a week and more after the event.

You can help here now by organizing your churches to collect cash, gift cards to home improvement stores, tools, and probably water. Getting money and gift cards in will be easy. Water and tools will require some drivers and trailers.

Could really use a source for a double axle enclosed trailer for things like this if you know of any.

Servants Unite!

John McGuire

Tuscaloosa Situation

This is a blog by an Elder at University Church of Christ, just north of the tornado's path in Tuscaloosa. A couple good posts of information now and more worth following to come I'm sure.

Record Tornado Outbreak

Yesterday was a very bad day for a lot of people. Numbers are still coming in, but hundreds are dead, thousands homeless, and the quantity of tornadoes yesterday, over 170, has far surpassed the record set 37 years ago.

The worst tornado outbreak in U.S. history occurred in April 1974, when 148 twisters touched down in 13 states over a 16-hour period, according to the National Weather Service. The agency said 330 people died and 5,484 were injured in a path of damage that covered more than 2,500 miles.

The worst of these was a mile wide F5 that destroyed most of my wife Melinda's home town, Xenia, Ohio.

Yesterday's rush hour tornado that hit Tuscaloosa just south of the University of Alabama was the same kind of beast. It had been on the ground for 2 hours and continued through more towns after Tuscaloosa. There are a number of videos of the tornado churning through town on the Alabama Fox 6 station.

The path was just a few blocks south of the University Church of Christ where we've had teams stay on the way down or back from Katrina relief trips. I've traded a couple texts with Sandy who organized our stays. Knowing this church and their proximity to ground zero I expect they'll be working with members and the community to help recovery. While tornadoes usually do not require outside assistance, our relationship with this congregation and the scale of this damage may mean we are needed. I'll post updates here and on facebook

How Does the Disaster in Japan Compare

Our experience as an organization has been with hurricanes, localized flooding, and river flooding. Our partner organization, Hilltop Rescue has done some wild fire response. As devastating as these events have been, we are fairly well prepared with what to expect. I propose, however, that faith based organizations, informal relief organizations like ours, and even the big government supported organizations have a long way to go to prepare for what has happened in Japan.

The scale and diversity of challenges in Northern Japan is beginning to be illustrated in this current CNN lead story:

• The official death toll, rising every few hours, reached 1,886 on Monday [3/14/11]. But that didn't account for thousands of bodies Japan's Kyodo News said had been found in the hard-hit Miyagi Prefecture on Japan's northeast coast.
• At least 2,369 people were missing Monday, the National Police Agency said, and the number of dead is expected to go up as rescuers reach more hard-hit areas.
• Public broadcaster NHK reported that 450,000 people were living in shelters.
• "It's just adding insult to injury," said Ryan McDonald, an American living in Kitakata, about 60 miles west of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. "The earthquake was horrible. Then The tsunami was horrible. And that's not enough. Now there's a nuclear fear."
• The town of Minami Sanriku -- about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Pacific Ocean -- had morphed into a massive pile of wood that used to house 20,000 residents.
• About 15,000 people have been rescued, Kyodo News reported Monday, citing Prime Minister Nato Kan. Among them was Hiromitsu Shinkawa, a 60-year-old man from Minami Soma who was swept away with his house, Kyodo said. A Japanese destroyer found him floating 9 miles off Fukushima Prefecture

This is all very disheartening to me. It seems the bar to measure what constitutes a disaster keeps rising over the last decade. Each new worst-case-scenario is increasingly more extravagant than the last. The fear I have for what God may be preparing us for with our relief work is rising with each of these events.

The best quote I've seen applicable to this is from someone I am acquainted with from my gridSMART cybersecurity work at AEP. As Andy Bochman of IBM said "Good work rarely gets done in the fetal position."

We have work to do in analyzing this present crisis, even if we aren't applying it directly right now. How would we respond to a similar earthquake in California where "63,000 buildings had been damaged, more than 6,000 of them obliterated?" How would we respond to a tsunami, most likely in Oregon or Washington State, but anywhere along the West coast where all structures within 20 feet of sea level, miles inland are washed away with only minutes notice if any? How would we respond to a similar cascading failure of nuclear reactor control systems that could happen nearly anywhere in our country including Ohio? And how would we respond to all of them simultaneously as is required right now in Japan?

I don't have the answers. All of us thinking through these questions and working together to find answers, however, could be of tremendous benefit if our nation were confronted with similar catastrophes.

Your thoughts? How do we function as His hands and feet to victims of so extraordinary a circumstance as this is shaping up to be?

Servants Unite!
John McGuire
servantsunite.blogspot.com

Ohio and Japan

It appears flooding in Northern Ohio over the last couple weeks is bad, but not the concentrated, large scale problem we had in 2007 in Bucyrus and Findlay. Yet, the water still hasn't receded many places so there may yet be a need for Servants Unite to mobilize. Southern Baptist Disaster Relief is engaged in the Marion County area. I'll pass on word as that materializes.

There is little our organization can do for Japan. This triple whammy of worst case scenarios, major earthquake, 23 foot tsunami, and now the threat of multiple nuclear reactor meltdowns appears to yet again set a new precedent for how bad a disaster can be. There are two organizations I have worked closely with who I can recommend over the usual suspects for handling money. IDES and WFR have been active in international disasters. They are affiliated with Christian Church and Church of Christ respectively. The people at IDES are good acquaintances and I am personal friends with the organizers at Whites Ferry Road. These are the sweetest people in the world yet they maintain strict oversight over how funds are spent. They will stretch a penny to make copper wire, yet those projects they support are very effective at shining Christ's light in the darkness.

We can help support their efforts and pray, pray, pray, pray, and pray some more.

Servants Unite!
John McGuire

Lots of flooding in Northern Ohio

If you would like to help, please contact me by email or on my cell phone (listed to the right).

Snowfall from last week melting with rainfall last night has created major flooding in Findlay, Lima, and some other Northern Ohio towns. I don't know what I can do or organize or whether people are interested in going up to help the cleanup. For that matter it's still too early to judge whether the areas of damage are wide spread enough to require help from outside the local communities to clean it up.

Areas marked with purple on this National Weather Service map are where the need for help will be greatest. I'll keep my eye on the needs, but I'm not going to be able to go up and do a survey till the weekend.

This does not appear to be as widespread or severe as August 2007 when we spent several weeks working in Bucyrus area and other groups worked in Findlay. During that response, we made contact with EMA directors for several counties and ended up working with Tim Flock in Crawford County (Bucyrus). We helped a local resident with some disaster relief experience set up intake for residents with needs and organization for volunteers during the initial effort. FEMA ended up declaring a disaster area and the process became more formalized after a few weeks and was taken over by our VOAD. In Ohio, that's Lutheran Disaster Services.

I get information and updates from LDS, Mennonite Disaster Services which is active in the area, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, and Methodist Disaster Services. I'll post any information from those organizations or any additional information I collect here.

Please pray for those who have lost property and vehicles in the flash flooding, that they will find help that they need and find that Jesus is looking out for them.

Servants Unite!
John McGuire