People meeting the needs of people is what disaster relief is about, and most who help are volunteers.
South Carolina Disaster Relief volunteer Natalie Poepping at her post.Since 1989, South Carolina Disaster Relief has trained more than 7,000 volunteers (in 136 specialized units) to help victims work through and overcome the sometimes brutal forces of nature and man.
Natalie Poepping has been a disaster relief volunteer for eight years. A member at Willow Ridge Church, Lexington, and a bookkeeper by trade, she has been trained in many areas of disaster relief, including crisis intervention and victim’s assistance. She has assisted with deployments to Mississippi, Haiti, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and Missouri.
Poepping is in her second year as training coordinator in South Carolina. She plans and manages classroom training for hundreds who are eager to help hurting people. “When a disaster strikes and our people are deployed, it is not unusual for her to work 20-30 hours a week at the convention building scheduling teams, tracking their travel to assure their safety, ordering supplies, and working as a liaison between our volunteers and national coordinators,” said Cliff Satterwhite, director of South Carolina Disaster Relief. “Natalie loves having a hand in bringing it all together to exemplify Christ’s model.”
Poepping said she prays that disasters won’t happen, but hopes South Carolina will have enough trained volunteers to send when devastation hits. “If you want to go and help, you have to be trained ahead of time,” she said.
Since March, 75 South Carolina teams have been deployed. Some have been sent out multiple times. Volunteers must be credentialed every three years to remain active. South Carolina needs all types of teams, said Satterwhite.
The next training event is Oct. 7-8 at White Oak Conference Center. For information: http://www.scbaptist.org/dr. – SCBC