Point of Light award to disaster relief worker

Courtesy photo

Larry Sassano (l) presents award to Derreck Boring.

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE (FBW) – Florida Governor Jeb Bush recognized Derreck Boring, associate pastor of Central Baptist Church in Crestview, and a Master Sergeant in the Air Force, with a Points of Light Award Jan. 11 for his role in assisting victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The Governor’s Points of Light Award recognizes a Florida resident or organization that demonstrates exemplary service to the community. Award recipients are announced weekly.

In the ceremony at Eglin Air Force Base Jan. 17, Larry Sassano, executive director of the economic development council of Okaloosa County, presented the award to Boring on behalf of Gov. Bush. More than 400 people gathered at the ceremony which merited a Commander’s Call requiring all personnel on hand to attend.

“Thanks to Derreck’s leadership, many Americans affected by Hurricane Katrina found relief shortly after the storm made landfall,” said Bush in a press release. “Florida is proud to have residents like Derreck, who are willing to serve our fellow Americans during their time of need.”

Robert Cates, senior pastor of Central Baptist, told Florida Baptist Witness he did not know of anyone more deserving of the award than Boring.

“You know when you’re working 12-18 hour days and your body gets tired, you can get snappy, but Derrick showed the love of Christ to these evacuees,” Cates said of Boring. “He was here … praying with people and talking with people, making sure all their needs were met.”

Katrina, a category three hurricane, made landfall Aug. 29, ravaging the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana and breaking the levees in New Orleans, La. Many evacuees relocated to Crestview, where Boring opened the Central Baptist’s recreational outreach center as a shelter and used the church as a central location for emergency response officials and charity organizations.

“It was just such an enriching time to see how God works in the lives of people and the community,” Boring said.

The Sunday evening following Katrina, Boring said he challenged the congregation to use the resources of “every man, woman, and child” to help victims of hurricane damage.

Hours later, the Red Cross called Boring requesting that the church’s outreach center be turned into an approved shelter.

“After preaching that sermon, God said. ‘Okay, now are you going to live it out?’” Boring chuckled.

By 4 p.m. the following day, 10 church volunteers manned the kitchen, cots from the Red Cross lined the center’s walls, and 160 evacuees entered the shelter.

Taking leave from the Air Force and working up to 18 hours a day for three weeks, Boring ministered to the evacuees. He organized supplies for the shelter and coordinated sending six truckloads of supplies to Louisiana and Mississippi. He aided in reuniting families separated during the evacuation, and helped families reestablish themselves. His band of volunteers, many working 10-hour days, helped garner community support through donations of money, supplies and gift cards.

Boring even performed a marriage ceremony for an evacuee couple who had dated in Mississippi, he said. Community stores donated flowers, tuxedos and a wedding dress.

“The outpouring from the community was remarkable,” Boring said of the amount of goods given to the shelter. “[The shelter] took on its own entity. I give God all the glory.”

One day Eddie Chandler came into Boring’s office and told him God had sent him to help. Boring told Chandler he needed trucks to transport excess supplies to Louisiana and Mississippi. To Boring’s surprise, Chandler immediately whipped out his cell phone and began dialing. With a grin, Chandler told Boring he owned a trucking company.

“It was pretty amazing how God provided for us,” Boring marveled. “Everything He gave me a vision for, He provided for.”

In accepting the Point of Light honor, Boring thanked God for giving him the strength to continue each day, his wife of 10 years, Annette, and his three daughters for being understanding of the time he spent away from home.

Courtesy photo

Air Force MSgt Derreck Boring is presented an award by Larry Sassano. With Boring is his wife, Annette, and daughters (l-r) Naomi, Hannah and Moriah. With the family is Jeanne Barnes from the Okaloosa County Economic Development Council and Maj. Gen. Jeff Riemer, Air Armament Center commander.

Boring said he asked his daughters, Hannah, 8; Moriah, 5; and Naomi, 2, if they missed him too much and if they wanted him to stay home.

Boring said they told him they missed him, but added: “Daddy we want you to go help those people.”

Hannah and Moriah collected $33 for the hurricane victims by going door-to-door selling lemonade, Boring said.

Boring also credited Central Baptist volunteers, especially Mary Joe Woodruff and Alex Riddle, in helping him organize volunteers and supplies for the hurricane victims.

“Without their efforts and the efforts of so many others, nothing ever would have gotten done,” Boring said. “I don’t believe you can be a good leader without having good people around you.”

Boring admitted the work was hard and many of the victims were wary of him and the volunteers. The work paid off, however, and community and government leaders visiting the shelter were amazed at the positive attitude and expressions of happiness they saw in the volunteers and most of the evacuees.

“Faith makes the difference here,” Boring said. “We love these people; they’re part of our family and we try to minister to them in any way we can — spiritually, emotionally and physically.”

Many of the evacuees came from very different religious backgrounds, Boring said. He said he was often called padre or father and one evacuee came up to him after his sermon and told him it was the best ‘mass’ he’d ever heard.

“It was so rewarding that you get to touch so many lives,” Boring said. “We’ve made friends and influenced people all along the Gulf Coast. People have gone back with a little Florida hospitality and some of the hope of Christ.”

Boring stressed the ministry of Central Baptist to evacuees is a long-term effort. The church adopted an immigrant family that had been in New Orleans only eight days before Katrina hit. Comprised of two sisters escaping abusive husbands and their three children aged 15, 10, and 6, the family will move into an apartment Feb. 1.

While the church gathered donations from church members and the community to provide them with furniture and other supplies, Boring’s wife was able to minister to the Spanish-speaking family utilizing her language skills.

“The family is so thankful and so appreciative of everything the community and the church has done for them,” Boring said. “Any time someone talks to them they start crying because they have seen the hand of God move them from there to here so that someone would care for them.”