UPDATE: Watch local TV coverage of disaster relief efforts in W.Va.

Two local television stations have covered the LU Send Now team as they participate in flood cleanup efforts in West Virginia. Since arriving on Wednesday, students have been cleaning out homes and a church. The team will return to Lynchburg on Friday night. Watch the coverage at the links below.

• WSET
• WSLS

Members from Liberty University’s LU Send Now team left for West Virginia on Wednesday morning.

Liberty University’s LU Send Now disaster relief program is partnering with the Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief to send eight students and three staff members to Greenbrier County, W.Va., to aid in flood cleanup. The team will deploy on Wednesday.

Numerous counties in West Virginia were underwater due to the tremendous flooding last week. Many residents were left homeless and thousands are without power. Emergency shelters have been set up to help families who have been forced to evacuate by the high waters.

Liberty’s team will be working in the surrounding communities to help with recovery efforts, including cleaning homes. The team will return to Lynchburg over the weekend, and LU Send Now will assess the need for another team at that time.

Vincent Valeriano, LU Send Now coordinator, said that Liberty wants to respond immediately to disasters like this, to help people who have lost so much.

“Having organizations and teams of volunteers responding as soon as possible helps to alleviate the shock and pain of the extreme loss they are experiencing,” he said. “Having personnel who are experienced in disaster recovery responding immediately gives the people direction and hope to move forward.”

Additionally, LU Send Now has partnered with Gleaning For The World to establish a supply drop today (Tuesday) and Wednesday at Sam’s Club on Wards Road, where the community can donate supplies that are needed in West Virginia (see times and full list of items needed here). Financial donations can be made online.

LU Send Now teams participated in flood cleanup efforts in Columbia, S.C., in the wake of Hurricane Joaquin and during the aftermath of tornadoes in Mississippi last fall. During 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, sent its first international team to Greece to aid in the Syrian refugee crisis, and 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.