Mountain View Conference’s Adventist Community Services (ACS) staff is actively involved in coordinating relief efforts following floods in West Virginia that killed 23 people and left thousands homeless. The team is working to organize a warehouse south of Charleston, in Belle, W.Va., where victims will receive necessary items.
Belle is about 50 miles from the site of the upcoming Best Pathway to Health event where Seventh-day Adventists from around the country will converge to offer free medical care to community members.
“The area was in dire need prior to the event [and] this storm compounds that,” says Minnie McNeil, director of ACS/ACS Disaster Relief (ACSDR) at the Allegheny East Conference and Columbia Union Conference. “Mountain View Conference will be in a position to assist and build relationships and provide ministry based on disinterested benevolence. This is our time to minister as Christ ministered.”
McNeil is spearheading the procurement of the warehouse management team. Larry Murphy, Adventist Community Services director for the Mountain View Conference ACS, is working with Mark Hann, ACS/ACSDR; Randy Murphy ACS/ACSDR, and W. Derrick Lea, the North American Division assistant director in charge of disaster response, to inspect the warehouse in preparation for the Warehouse Management team arriving on Wednesday.
After meeting with the warehouse management team, Murphy says he will better know what kind of help is needed, but says, “If you have ACS training, and can spend some time in the Charleston area, call my cell at 479-238-3070.” He added that another way to find volunteer opportunities is through volunteerwv.org.
We will post more information about where to send monetary donations when it becomes available.
See Murphy's update below: