[1]Missouri Baptists support The Baptist Home through COVID outbreak
By BP Staff
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (BP) – The Baptist Home, a residential senior care facility affiliated with the Missouri Baptist Convention, has experienced an outbreak of the COVID-19 virus at two of its four campuses. The agency’s Chillicothe, Mo., campus has seen six deaths from the virus among its residents.
An update on The Baptist Home website [2] said despite the cases, Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services found the campus to be “deficiency free with no suggestions.”
“To say our staff were doing a great job is an understatement,” said Ruthie Meyers, administrator of the Chillicothe campus. “However, it is nice to have confirmation that we are doing all we could do.”
Baptist Home President Rodney Harrison said the agency has received help in various ways, including volunteers handling grounds maintenance so employees can focus on deep cleaning, churches providing crisis counseling for staff and Baptist nurses filling in for staff who are quarantined.
[3]“The outpouring of prayer and support from the churches and the Missouri Baptist Convention has exceeded expectations,” Harrison said.
Read a statement from The Baptist Home here [4].
Louisiana camp devastated by Laura, help needed
By Norm Miller
DRY CREEK, La. (BP) – Hurricane Laura uprooted, snapped off and twisted more than 500 trees, obstructing the landscape at Dry Creek Baptist Camp such that workers spent almost three days clearing a short stretch of camp road that led to a garage where equipment, needed to restore the campus of the 95 year-old encampment, was kept.
“Our greatest need is for some volunteers who can come and stay for a while – I’m talking weeks,” said Todd Burnaman, Dry Creek camp director. “Maybe some RVers or some folks who could stay in our cabins and help keep things moving at a steady pace. We love having youth groups coming in for a day, too,” he said.
Three weeks after the hurricane swept through the area, the camp still has hundreds of trees that need to be removed as well as other general clean-up work.
“We’re just using every bit of energy we have right now to get the trees off the ground,” Burnaman said. “I can’t even start to think about spending energy taking care of people, which hurts, because that’s what’s important. If we don’t get trees off the ground, we can’t get people here.”
Camp staffers, including administrative assistants, have pitched in to remove brush, broken limbs and other debris.
“We’re in a pretty tight financial spot these days, and our staff is all-in,” Burnaman said. “We have a ‘do whatever it takes’ attitude.”
Burnaman said access to supplies is not a problem.
“But one of our biggest needs is finances,” he said. “We’d already depleted savings because of the coronavirus. We’re just kinda hangin’ on here.”