Bishop Ward and Ann Huffman discuss disaster response as we are now in the midst of hurricane season and approaching the second anniversary of Hurricane Matthew.
Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ.
It’s midsummer. We are in hurricane season. We know what that means in eastern North Carolina, and Ann Huffman really knows what that means because Ann is one of our significant leaders in Disaster Response, having served on our staff in the wake of storms.
Ann how did you begin this ministry?
ANN: With a hurricane, Hurricane Floyd in 1999. So I actually began as a volunteer simply answering the phone with calls from people who wanted to volunteer to come and help. We had many, many volunteers from across our state and the United States. We even had volunteers from Canada and Jamaica. We’ve had volunteers from other places that have come and helped us, volunteers that started out after storms that came and taught us how to do volunteer case work, how to do volunteer coordination. Getting started like that is how I’ve spent 20 years.
BISHOP: Twenty years since 1999 and in what ways have you used the experience and knowledge that you’ve gained to help in other places across our country?
ANN: By working with volunteers. I was asked to go to New York after 9/11 to help to coordinate the volunteers who came in to the listening centers, for people to come and just chat about what that event had meant to them. In Alabama, I taught, went to help work with volunteers who were coming to help with tornado response; in Mississippi with hurricanes again, so in various places, to help with other disasters that may have been like ours or a little different.
BISHOP: Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do in leadership in Disaster Response and thanks to each of you for your continued offerings, for your volunteering and presence and work, as families are helped to return home. We press on toward the second anniversary of Hurricane Matthew in October. Thank you for all that you are doing in Christ’s name.