Liberty team to aid wildfire victims, responders in California

As California suffers from some of its worst wildfires in state history, Liberty University is dispatching a team this weekend to support relief workers and a community affected by the inferno.

On Sunday, students and staff from LU Send Now, the university’s disaster relief initiative, will travel to Redding, Calif., in partnership with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (RRT). Students will work alongside RRT chaplains as they minister to humanitarian responders and victims of the Carr Fire, a blaze that has spread across over 180,000 acres, displacing nearly 30,000 people and destroying more than 1,000 residences.

The team will provide water and meals to relief workers as well as emotional support to victims, shining the hope of Christ to those who are suffering.

They will return on Sunday, Aug. 19.

“These Send Now opportunities are a worthwhile investment of the university’s efforts,” explained Holly Griswold, associate director of LU Send Now. “At Liberty University, we have a wonderful resource of people who have a heart to help the hurting, the broken, and those in need. These students, in the long-term, gain experience from work that might not be glamorous but has deeper significance. It can change them. They leave Liberty as citizens and believers who naturally respond to disaster or hurt or needs in their communities and around the world.”

LU Send Now mobilizes students and staff to respond to immediate needs nationally and abroad. Over the past academic year, teams were dispatched for relief work in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria’s devastation, as well as to other areas affected by deadly hurricanes, including Texas and the Caribbean. Liberty recently provided shelter and supplies locally to flood victims.

If you would like to donate to LU Send Now’s disaster relief fund, visit Liberty.edu/LUSendNow.