Storm relief work in Southeast continues with trip to Mississippi

LU Send Now, Liberty University’s disaster relief initiative, will send 11 students and two staff members to Hattiesburg, Miss., to Samaritan’s Purse assist with clean-up efforts after severe weather affected the area over the last several weeks.

The team will leave on Saturday, Feb. 4, and return Feb. 11.

On Jan. 21, an EF3 tornado, with winds reaching up to 165 mph, touched down in Forest County, Miss., killing four people and leaving 20 injured, according to news reports.

A string of deadly storms also swept through Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina in the month of January. Liberty students were dispatched to Albany, Ga., a few weeks ago to assist Samaritan’s Purse with relief efforts there. In Wednesday’s Convocation, Vincent Valeriano, LU Send Now participant coordinator, introduced a video highlighting their work.

“Most people had no clue what had happened due to lack of media coverage,” Valeriano said. “Samaritan’s Purse said it was one of the worst unreported natural disasters they have ever seen.”

Valeriano said a group of students from Albany asked Senior Vice President of Spiritual Development David Nasser to send a group due to the amount of damage in their hometown.

The trip to Mississippi will mark LU Send Now’s 15th trip.

LU Send Now is currently accepting applications for students interested in serving with disaster relief. Applications will be accepted through Feb. 10.