BRIDGE CITY, Texas - Today was a great day overall. We worked on cleaning up Deputy Sheriff Mike’s house today. When Ike came ashore, Deputy Mike and his fellow officers were staying in a secure bunker to weather the storm. But as the 911 calls poured in from terrified residents, they left the safety of the bunker in boats and off-road dump trucks to rescue people who otherwise may have lost their lives. (more…)

ORANGE, Texas - Today I stopped by to check on a crew of volunteers. As I drove up the the street to the home where they were working on, I passed a cemetary and saw caskets that had literally popped out of the graves. Ike’s storm surge saturated the ground so much that the caskets were uprooted from their cement graves and scattered throughout the small cemetery. (more…)

Beaumont, Texas – Yesterday was a great day. We received free fuel at the fuel depot set up by the state to supply fuel to first responders, state officials and disaster relief agencies. The need for fuel, however, is still creating long lines at the pump. (more…)

BEAUMONT, Texas - On Sunday, our motor convoy of disaster relief staff, mobile command center, mobile kitchen, 20-ton crane, skid steer loader, construction trailer and truckloads of roofing supplies, food, water and relief supplies, left the staging area near Dallas at 5:30 a.m. for what should have been a 5 hour drive to Beaumont, Texas. (more…)

Dallas - Yesterday, the Texas State Emergency Operations Center (EOC) asked OBI to come in to meet with them. The relationship that is developing with them is quickly gaining strength. (more…)

DALLAS - As Texas braces for a heavy hit from Hurricane Ike, our disaster relief teams are ready to launch an immediate response within hours after the storm. (more…)

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – In our attempts to predict the eventual path of the storm and “shoot in front of the target,” we picked what we hoped would be the best “close-but-not-too-close” staging areas. Last week, we staged supplies in Baton Rouge; yesterday, our disaster relief team headed to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Baton Rouge now looks now like it may wind up in the thick of the storm.

The convoy that left the Operation Blessing Ocala, Fla., warehouse yesterday consisted of: our 20-ton truck crane, a truckload of temporary roof materials (blue tarps, furring strips, nails), 4-door diesel pickups each pulling trailers loaded with skid steer loaders, portable showers, tools, etc. Our mobile command center with its satellite communications equipment and mobile office, as well as a mobile kitchen with partner Mercy Chefs, left for Hattiesburg today. Our disaster relief leadership team arrived in Hattiesburg around 8:30 p.m.
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HATTIESBURG, Miss. – I arrived with three of my senior staff to Hattiesburg, Mississippi around 8:30 p.m. and we drove the Hattiesburg Salvation Army Corps buildings where we met up with our National Reserve Staff and equipment.

Today was a day of mixed emotions as I received phone calls from pastors and friends as they evacuated New Orleans.  These calls were from very strong and resilient people, but you could hear the fear in their voices.  Many of them just completed restoring their homes from Katrina and, after 3 years, were beginning to experience “normalcy.”  Now, as they drove along interstates, their hearts were gripped with the flashback and memories of everything they have worked for being washed away.
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Today marked a monumental day as Operation Blessing and The Home Depot embarked on their first ever disaster relief partnership. More than 125 Home Depot associates from 28 stores within Missouri and Illinois arrived at the Operation Blessing Mobile Command Center in Winfield, Missouri, to help clean up the devastation left behind by the floods. (more…)

WINFIELD, Missouri - We just ended our disaster relief efforts in Terre Haute, IN, where Operation Blessing coordinated more than 2,390 volunteer hours valued at $45,000. Terre Haute was a great success as we partnered with Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Rapid Response Team Chaplains and The Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. (more…)