UPDATE – Second team deployed to help with Hurricane Matthew cleanup

On Sunday, Liberty University’s LU Send Now program mobilized its second team of students in two weeks to respond to the destruction of Hurricane Matthew. A group of 13 students and two staff leaders traveled to Lumberton, N.C., just one day after the first team returned from a weeklong relief trip working alongside Samaritan’s Purse in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

“There was so much damage with Hurricane Matthew, and so many places got affected, so we’re sending relief into areas that need it most,” said Vincent Valeriano, participant coordinator for LU Send Now, which operates out of Liberty’s Office of Spiritual Development. “Liberty students will be clearing debris, helping homeowners dispose of destroyed belongings, and gutting homeowners’ homes to prepare to rebuild.”

Hurricane Matthew left a wide swath of devastation in its wake as it swept through the Eastern Caribbean and up the Atlantic Coast, producing the most damaging flooding in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The recovery process for thousands of families and businesses in the southeastern United States is ongoing and could take months, if not years.

The second LU Send Now team is partnering with Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia and Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. The team is staying at Hyde Park Baptist Church, which has served as a hub for hurricane relief in the area, located just north of the South Carolina border.

“Lumberton was hit pretty hard, and a member of Liberty’s staff who works as a supervisor for our Grounds (Maintenance) crew asked us if we could help out,” Valeriano said. “We weren’t sure where our partners were going to set up, but when we found out it was at Hyde Park Baptist Church, he said, ‘No way, that’s my family’s church.’ So it was cool how God orchestrated that.”

Multiple students from North Carolina are on the team serving their home state after being trained in basic disaster relief, safety, and caring for those in crisis.

“We gave them priority,” Valeriano said. “We wanted to send students who were personally impacted by this because it was their home state, so it’s awesome they’re able to go and help out people in their own state.”

Valeriano said the first team helped 14 different home owners in areas in and around Myrtle Beach and witnessed two people come to know the Lord as their personal Savior.

“Our hope is to show the love of Christ in everything we do — in word and deed,” Valeriano said. “Jesus would meet the very real physical needs of people. It is through alleviating these urgent humanitarian needs that we share the love and hope of Christ to those affected by natural disasters.”

Last week’s team arrived in Myrtle Beach on Oct. 16, nearly a year to the date of the first-ever LU Send Now trips — two 25-member teams commissioned to Columbia, S.C., over the course of two weeks in response to historic flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Joaquin.

This week’s trip to North Carolina is the fourth LU Send Now outreach organized this semester.

LU sending Hurricane Matthew clean-up team to Myrtle Beach

10/14/2016

Liberty University’s disaster relief program LU Send Now is partnering with Samaritan’s Purse to send a team of 13 students and two staff members to Myrtle Beach, S.C., to aid in cleanup after Hurricane Matthew. The team will deploy this Sunday and return to campus Saturday, Oct. 22.

Hurricane Matthew made landfall in the Eastern Caribbean Sept. 30, reaching Category 5 strength with 160 mph winds as it caused major destruction in Haiti and Cuba. Matthew swept through Florida before landing southeast of McClellanville, S.C., on Oct. 8 as a Category 1 hurricane with 75 mph winds.

Students will be clearing out destroyed belongings, spraying for mold, and helping homeowners prepare their homes for reconstruction.

The trip to South Carolina will be the third relief trip students have been on this semester. In August, LU Send Now deployed two groups to Baton Rouge, La., to aid in flood relief efforts after what the Red Cross called the worst natural disaster to strike the U.S. since Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which, like Matthew, crossed the Caribbean and wreaked havoc along the Atlantic Coast. In all, about 60 students and staff went to help in Louisiana.

In June, LU Send Now dispatched eight students and three staff members to Greenbrier County, W.Va., to assist with flood relief efforts. Liberty’s team worked in the surrounding communities to help with recovery efforts, including cleaning homes.

LU Send Now teams participated in flood relief efforts in Columbia, S.C., in the wake of Hurricane Joaquin and during the aftermath of tornadoes in Mississippi last fall. In the Spring 2016 semester, LU Send Now deployed its first local outreach team to Appomattox, Va. (about 30 minutes from campus), to areas that were hit by a tornado. Its first international team traveled to Greece to aid in the Syrian refugee crisis, while another group traveled to Flint, Mich., to assist with the water crisis. Additionally, a team went to Orange County, Texas, to help residents whose homes were destroyed in floods.