Update on DBU Responds Efforts - August 30, 2017

DALLAS, TX – Prayers, support, and donations continue to arrive through the DBU Responds fund. Below is an update from DBU President Dr. Adam C. Wright.

If you would like to contribute to the DBU Responds fund, please visit our online giving webpage. If you would like to have more information about DBU Responds and stay connected with updates, visit www.dbu.edu/DBUResponds.

Dear DBU Family:

Times like these make me so proud to be a part of the DBU Family when I observe the love and care demonstrated by you all and our students.

We remain in a season of prayer and have been overwhelmed by the generous response of so many people who have sent notes of encouragement, made financial contributions, and delivered whole cases of water that will be taken to areas affected by Hurricane Harvey. Our first supply of water that we have collected will be making its way to Houston and surrounding areas on Friday. We have already collected more than $13,000 from donors, and we have been able to provide immediate relief to individuals affected by Hurricane Harvey. Praise the Lord!

Just yesterday, we were able to assist a DBU student from Houston through the DBU Responds fund by providing a scholarship to keep her enrolled at DBU so she can reprioritize personal funds to her parents who lost everything in the hurricane. This is one story of many others we continue to experience. Your gifts to the DBU Responds fund is already making a difference.

Presently, we are receiving word from the Red Cross, National Guard, Texas Baptist Men, and the SBC Disaster Recovery that it is unadvisable to send a student response team. Many roads remain impassable, and reports are coming in that untrained individuals arriving to help are having to be rescued, thus distracting attention from residents already in need of help. The last thing we would want to do is to put more people in danger.

Reports estimate that there will be much work to do in the days and months ahead in the affected areas. We are currently organizing an immediate trip to Houston, once we receive word that it is safe to re-enter. We are also coordinating a week-long response and relief missions trip during DBU’s fall break (October 2-6).

The immediate missions trip would include possibly leaving on a Friday afternoon and returning on a Sunday, maybe as early as next week. We are already coordinating efforts with Texas Baptist Men to conduct training before we enter any disaster areas. If you would like to make a gift to help our response and relief missions trip effort, visit www.dbu.edu/DBUResponds.

Additionally, DBU remains in contact with The Salvation Army, and we will be sending students, faculty and staff as volunteers to help feed the evacuees at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center where they anticipate housing 5,000 people.

We are still uncertain of when they are going to allow a group from DBU as they are still waiting on people to arrive from Houston, and we have received word that they have plenty of volunteers, but as soon as there is an opportunity to serve in Dallas, DBU is on the list to respond.

I want to thank the countless individuals who offered prayers and support through #DBUResponds. Let us continue to seek the Lord through this terrible natural disaster for His wisdom on how best to love and care for our brothers and sisters in great need.

Sincerely,
Adam C. Wright
DBU President

For continuing updates on these relief efforts, please visit www.dbu.edu/DBUResponds.