Three volunteers were recognized for their volunteer service recently at the South Carolina Baptist Disaster Relief training event in Conway.

David Carver received the Choice & Grace Watson Award for personifying a lifetime of service in disaster relief ministry. Now a North Carolina resident, Carver previously served in the Seneca area and continues to serve with S.C. Disaster Relief volunteers. His roles have included unit leader for both chainsaw and flood recovery units, chaplain, associational DR director, trainer, and incident commander. He has served in countless deployments both across the nation and in South Carolina. 

Pam Stallings received the Permelia Creamer Memorial Award for outstanding disaster relief ministry by a woman. A member of Hebron Baptist Church in Florence Association, she serves as unit leader for its feeding unit. She also is the Region 4 feeding coordinator, helping coordinate volunteers in the Pee Dee and Grand Strand areas. A long-time volunteer, Stallings has served in mass feeding deployments with the mobile kitchen unit, and she has served in church kitchens at DR command posts. She recently spent 30 days on two different deployments to Port St. Joe, Fla., in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael.

Ron Taylor received the Tommy Thompson Memorial Award for leadership by example in the smaller membership/rural areas of the state. A member of Latta Baptist Church, Taylor serves as director of missions for Pee Dee Baptist Association and is a unit leader for its chainsaw team. His association’s chainsaw unit has been the most active in the state over the past three years. In the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew’s destruction in 2016, he led the unit to cut trees for months, completing 64 chainsaw jobs. When Hurricane Florence hit last fall, the team completed 67 chainsaw jobs.

Randy Creamer, SCBC DR director, and Ken Owens, SCBC Missions Mobilization Team leader, made the presentations.