Hurricane help on the way

Earlier this week, the Rev. Ronald Davidson was on the phone in his office at Gleaning for the World in Concord, trying to figure out how to pay for the shipment and replenishment of three truckloads of supplies headed for hurricane-ravaged areas of Louisiana.

In walked the Rev. Larry Davies, district superintendent for the 91 United Methodist churches in the Lynchburg area. He was on his way to Blackstone for a planning session/retreat with the pastors of those churches and just happened to stop by Gleaning, the relief organization on whose board he sits.

Davidson, Gleaning’s founder, president and CEO, told Davies he’d just committed to helping the Danville-based God’s Pit Crew get its supplies into areas destroyed by Hurricane Gustav.

The folks at God’s Pit Crew, who were on the ground in Louisiana, “had no idea how we’re going to pay for it,” Davidson recalled.

Davies volunteered to ask the pastors of the UMC district’s churches to help. He did, and they made a pledge to raise the roughly $10,000 needed.

They “really stepped up to the plate,” Davidson said. “It’s a God thing.”

Davies said when he got to Blackstone, he asked the pastors to write down on a card what they felt they could pledge. The total came to slightly more than $10,000 — enough to pay for the hurricane relief tab.

“If these were 90 big churches, it would be a drop in the bucket,” Davies said.

But some are small churches with memberships of maybe 100 people and regular attendance in far smaller numbers.

So, Davies said, “They stepped in faith.”

The congregations, whether big or small, will likely hear about the relief effort and their churches’ commitment during services this Sunday, he said.

“I think that’s what great about it is the energy … when you have a lot of these small churches band together,” Davies said. “That’s how we’re going to make a difference.”

Davidson continued to work Friday on hurricane relief. Some Louisiana residents were being allowed to return to areas where power had yet to be restored, so they would have no working sewage system, no refrigeration and no fresh water, he said.

A truckload of supplies was due to leave Gleaning’s headquarters Friday, carrying water, blankets, candles and shoes to a Baton Rouge area church that had run out of supplies for people. Thomas Road Baptist Church had located the church in need Friday afternoon and by Friday evening, the shipment was due to leave.

The storm Gustav also laid waste to parts of Haiti.

“People just cannot imagine the devastation this storm had in the Caribbean,” Davidson said, referring to the waist-deep water that has left people without clean water or food.

Meanwhile, a series of hurricanes continued its march across the Atlantic in Gustav’s wake.

Davidson said Gleaning would hold back some of its supplies in case any of the storms hits Virginia forcefully.

He was scheduled to meet Friday with officials from Thomas Road Baptist Church. He said Gleaning has also been getting help on hurricane relief from Clear Channel and from the Old Virginia Candle Co.
In other words, times of trouble are business as usual at Gleaning.

Davidson said Davies’ arrival just as he was wondering how to pay for the shipment and replenishment of supplies is the kind of thing that happens at Gleaning.

He doesn’t see it as coincidence.

“It is a God thing,” he said. “And that’s a pretty neat thing.”