Hurricane Ida made landfall with 157 mph winds, nearly pegging it as a Category 5 storm, and the Big Easy took a gut punch that has left thousands with flooded homes and ruined property.
8 Days of Hope founder Steve Tybor says the ministry will have a team on the ground there as soon as today.
“We have 181 volunteer leaders, and a couple million dollars of equipment, that we can deploy to different places in the country at the same time,” he says. “This is an opportunity for the church to help families in need, and that's what we do.”
8 Days began in the ruins of the Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast, where a determined band of Mississippians jumped in to help their neighbors.
Today, the ministry is much more capable. In New Orleans, a “Rapid Response Team” will be surveying the damage and acting as a recon team for the sea of volunteers coming behind them, likely by the weekend.
“There's no running water, and we don't know if there's not going to be any water for a day, three days, three weeks or a month,” Tybor tells American Family News. “That's a little challenging but we'll work through that like we always do.”
Like they have done at 54 natural disasters to date, where more than 7,200 families have been helped, 8 Days volunteers will clean up debris and repair damage free of charge to the storm victims.
You can sign up to help or to donate to the relief effort at EightDaysOfHope.com.
