Disaster!

Natural disaster and the immense trail of destruction has, once again, brought out the good in people.  The call for support and relief has gone out and the nation has responded.  Media moguls, high profile personalities, publicity machines, mega news outfits and legions of fans have mobilized to generate money and goods for the ravaged and damaged. 

The Salvation Army, Red Cross and other aid organizations who are set up and work with the survivors through such disasters greatly benefit from these fund raising efforts.  These groups go the distance and do great work.  But there are others. . .

The energy generated by impending calamity, actions in the immediate aftermath of predicted devastation and the surge of compassionate, patriotic duty all ends.  Clean up is not edge-of-your-seat visual excitement. Clean-up is a sound bite or 60 Minutes segment.

The dust settles, news focuses on the more immediate, celebrities return to their tours, unaffected people return to their lives and the mundane work begins.  Who are those who stay?  Who are they with the rolled up sleeves, dirty jeans and grimy hands helping to feed that family, wash those cloths or haul in that water?

I stumbled across one of these groups while searching for information on places for our congregation to make donations.  It is just one group out of Texas that has invested time and money in equipment and training in order to respond as disaster relief units.

They have semi-tractor trailers that are designed to provide 30,000 meals every day, others are outfitted with industrial washers and dryers to serve as portable laundry facilities and still others are outfitted with showers and lavatory units. 

From this local unit 60 volunteers headed East, committed for the next two weeks to help those who require the most basic of needs.

This is one of the many groups of common people working towards the common good.  One neighbor reaching out to help another.  Their story tucked into the local papers, under other headlines, sharing the good that quietly takes place in our world.   

These groups have always been.  Their ranks change as generations rotate but their service is continual.  Take a moment and share about the groups that help in your community.

Let us sing for the unsung volunteers. 

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