Louisiana

Texas Baptist Men Deploy to Louisiana for Barry

The Texas Baptist Men (TBM) are sending volunteers to Louisiana to help with destruction from Tropical Storm Barry.

They loaded up and deployed crews on Saturday, as the Tropical Storm made land fall.

According to their website, TBM "functions as a volunteer organization that organizes response to disaster relief, rebuilding after natural disasters, proactively building for churches and mission-minded organizations, helping churches grow up young men to be active in missions, restoring lives impacted by the criminal justice system, and providing communities sustainable access to clean water."

In disasters like Barry, volunteers typically clean up homes by removing mud and sewage water, removing sheetrock and insulation that has been flooded and later coming back to rebuild the walls. Most of this work is done for families without insurance, who may have not been able to salvage their home otherwise.

Chief Operating Officer John-Travis Smith said the work they do is a testament to their faith.

"We're one of the ones that go in there first and usually the ones that stay the longest to help people and make sure that they have some way to get back to a sense of a normal life," Smith said.

In addition to helping rebuild homes, the volunteers bring trucks that provide meals for first responders and victims, as well as mobile showers and laundry facilities.

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