Point of View

Most Southern Baptists know about our Florida Baptist Convention’s superb efforts and accomplishments in the area of Disaster Relief. And, most are familiar with what might be characterized as our major area of concentration--that is our ability to cook and prepare for the distribution of thousands of meals per day. If you’ve ever seen it, you would agree that the entire effort is quite impressive.

From the huge trucks containing the cooking equipment, including the clean up “steam jenny’s,” to the people who prepare and distribute the meals, the whole operation is awesome. Although many of us who have participated in Disaster Relief kid from time to time about the food (“oh no! not chicken and dumplings again”), we are always glad when it’s time to eat.

So, what does all this have to do with ham? I just wanted to say a few words about “another kind of ham”– not the kind you eat. The ham I’m talking about is the ham radio operator who deploys with our feeding teams and our Florida Baptist Disaster Relief Command Center to provide communications support to our “incident commander.” Until the “landlines” (standard telephone system) and cell phones are up and operating, the entire operation is pretty much cut off from the outside world. Our job is to become that link.

By setting up communications with local hams and the local or regional Emergency Operations Center (EOC), we are able to quickly establish the availability of emergency services: Who’s out there and where they are, where are the local hospitals and which ones are operating, where are the local and regional shelters and which ones still have available space, etc.

We also usually establish radio communications with the North American Mission Board (NAMB) to try to stay informed of the bigger picture. And, as the relief effort expands and additional feeding units and others such as clean up and recovery teams from Florida and other states begin to arrive in the area, we assist them in setting up their communications so they can stay “connected” to the command center and also report to their own state convention officials as necessary.

Our “Chief of Communications” is Hugh Cater whose “day job” is director of New Work Assistance for the Florida Baptist Convention. As information comes in regarding a disaster and the need for Disaster Relief volunteers, Hugh makes the necessary contacts with available Florida Baptist ham operators and determines what communications capability is required. He gets us organized and scheduled to deploy and is the first “licensed” radio communicator to arrive on-site to get things started, and the last one to leave.

In providing direct support to the incident commander and the other out-of-state teams, we are providing indirect support to the local disaster victims. On one occasion we received information on an approaching thunderstorm via our two meter (VHF) contact with a local ham radio operator who had been monitoring a weather bureau frequency. We alerted Kevin in the command center who took immediate action to assure that the tent covering the feeding line for those coming by in vehicles was secure.

Another time, a local school teacher was guided to our “comm center” (a well used travel trailer sans a toilet and shower) to see if we could help her gain info critical to her job. We were able to access the local school board Web site for her where she was able to get the needed information. She was very appreciative; and teary eyed as she left. That same day, another frail looking lady came to our trailer to see if we could give her any information about available shelters. She had a medical problem requiring placement in a special needs equipped shelter (i.e. a shelter with available medical help above the normal first aid level). By communicating with our local source, we were successful in getting the information she required.

Again, when a Florida Baptist clean-up and recovery team arrived and was getting organized at a second location in the town, we set up a business band communication station for them using some of our spare equipment. On this occasion, Hugh saved the day with a safety pin (yes that’s correct, a SAFETY PIN) which we used to fasten a lightweight antenna to the mast.

No deployment is exactly like another so we have a lot of fun innovating to get the configuration we need. We have room for three people to sleep in the comms trailer; one on a real bed, one on the kitchen table (which doubles for our equipment rack), and one on the couch, which incidently does not fold out into a bed. This is not a problem if you’re a person of small build! I’m not complaining, though, since, on some deployments, we have slept on cots or air mattresses in any available, not so secure or dry, building. And I must tell you that the comms trailer does have air conditioning, depending on the size of available generator and if you don’t try to run everything at once.

My last deployment was to Lake Charles, La., in response to Hurricane Rita and was the first time for me to be on the first team arriving. It was at night and quite eery as it took us a while to find the rest of the first responders in an area with no commercial power. We drove very slowly through debris strewn streets and around downed power lines looking for the rest of the gang. Hugh was pulling the comms trailer, another team member and his wife (Don and Yvonne Miller) were pulling their personal travel trailer, and Jack Scott and I were in Jack’s car. After a few wrong turns and a miraculous turn-around on a narrow dead end street, we were able to find the other team members.

I have been so very impressed by the attitudes of many of the storm victims. One day I stopped to chat with a fiftyish black man sitting on the hood of an old clunker car. As we talked, he put his arm around me, smiled, and said: “God is good. I have lost my home and my truck but I still have my car!” I was humbled as I thought about my family and possessions safe back in Florida. God has interesting ways in which He speaks to our hearts.

All in all, while the ham provided by the feeding teams surely is wonderful at meal time, the “other kind of ham” also plays a very important role in Southern Baptist Disaster Relief; and I feel blessed to be a small part of the effort.

Ambuel is a member of First Baptist Church of Lake Josephine in Sebring.