Back home again in Indiana

Sorry about no posts while we were gone. We were so busy that I never really had time to update much of anything. I uploaded some Facebook pics from my phone every once and awhile but that has been it.

Gonna try to get stuff uploaded and posted later today.

Bottom line...BETTER THAN BLESSED BY BAMA!!! More later...

Last day at home - Bama Bound tomorrow :: Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Just gotta keep plugging along today. Finally took a break in the action around 3:30p to write out a list of the things I still need to do before my head hits the pillow tonight. It was a bit overwhelming...nothing like the pressure of the afternoon/evening before a trip.

Men's Bible Study tonight which is one thing I won't skip and it will be a welcomed "pause" in the hecticness. We should finish our study in 1 Timothy tonight and start prepping for "Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan which is our next study. I've alreAdy read the book but will take it with me to start refreshing the story again.

Well, the tarp is on the truck and I need to go slide some more things underneath it and then hit the gas station to fill 'er up. "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep. And I have promises to keep. And miles to walk before I sleep." More later. Blessings.

Monday - August 8, 2011

Whew...so much to do and so little time left until we leave. EDT is 8a on Wednesday the 10th. Today has been tool day. Time to get things together so that we have the right tools for the work we are being asked to do. Trying to get a bunch of stuff done, while still getting work put to bed, has been a challenge today.

However, it was so awesome and uplifting to see the response from Facebook friends when I reached out for some additional gear for the trip. In less than 4 hours this morning, I had no less than 4 responses to my request for nail guns, compressors, and generators. I still had offers coming in during the afternoon which was just great. It proves the thoughtfullness and generosity of my friends and acquaintances. Y'all ROCK!!!

Also, donations have been piling up again. Kitchen wares, Gatorade, toasters, coffee makers, food, clothes, and Kroger gift cards are going to be headed to Bama in less than 36 hours. Thanks so much to all who have given from the heart...you know who you are.

Gotta go do some packing tonight so I'm outta here for tonight. God bless you all. More to come.

Monday - August 1, 2011

T-minus 10 days and counting.

Finalizing the list of guys going on the trip and figuring out vehicles, tools, donations, etc. The lady who has been helping me with answering all of my questions, lost her father to cancer last week and has been understandably busy elsewhere. Her friends have been trying to help me in her absence and so we continue to move forward.

Looks like 4 guys for sure at the moment and waiting to hear from 2 more. This trip will be such a blessing for everyone involved. I am especially happy, and proud, that my son Nick is going with me.

I allowed "old horn-head" to gain some footing and steal some of my joy last week by frustrating me with different hurdles but, thankfully, God helped me to recognize this and fight him off. Gotta remember that we are in constant combat against the forces of evil and can't drop our guard...not even for a moment.

Please pray for all of us and the trip.

Blessings!!!

Updated Needs List fro Webster's Chapel, Alabama - Saturday, July 30

All,

Here is the latest from Webster's Chapel this morning...

"Darin, WC has been crazy this week and I know you are looking for an updated list. I will give you some suggestions. There are 7 new homes in process which means seven kitchens with no pots and pans, flatwear, dishes, towels, etc. Probably bathrooms with no toothbrush holders, shower curtains, towels, towel racks. Bedrooms without comforters, sheets, pillows. Front porches with no welcome mats. MG"

So, imagine losing everything and then preparing to move into a newly constructed home. I'm sure that they could use whatever you feel led to give.

If you have stuff to donate, give me a shout and I can make arrangements to get it from you or feel free to drop it off on my front porch anytime. 510 Sheldon St., Greendale...the camper is parked in front of the house. As always, thanks and God Bless!!!

REBUILD ALABAMA - July 11, 2011

Finally decided on dates to make a return trip to aid with the rebuilding process in Alabama. The dates are August 10 thru 14 and I am finalizing details with folks from Habitat for Humanity and Christian Missian Service for locations and accomodations.

Right now it sounds like we will be headed to Webster's Chapel, northeast of Birmingham, and crashing on the floor in a church. At least we will be out of the elements and will have access to bathroom & shower facilities. Sleeping bags will be a must. Still working on details for meals while we are there to know whether or not we need to bring a grill along.

If anyone is interested in going to help and "swing some hammers for Jesus" then give me a shout at darinkroger@gmail.com or via phone at 812-584-1306.

Joplin, MO. ~ 5/22/2011

116 confirmed deaths as of 4:35pm EST.

So sad that this had to occur less than a full month after the Alabama tornadoes on 4/27. I have been following the activites via social networking sites from contacts made during our trip to Alabama earlier this month. It's Alabama's turn to lend a hand and they were setting things up as early as 8pm last night. Trucks were heading that way today. Toomers for Tuscaloosa (T4T) were online and sharing information live as it happened from their contacts in Missouri. Amazing!

If you you want to follow some of their information, send me a friend request on Facebook and you can see the updates on my page.

A family from our church, Bright Christian, was headed to Kansas in the morning and decided to quickly collect donations to drop off in Joplin, MO. on their way. Drop things off at church tonight by 7:30p. God is so good! Thank you Craig & Noel Quick for Loving God, Loving People, and Impacting the World!!!

A week later...

So, I am going to head back down there in a month or two.

We had heard some news before we left about a Habitat for Humanity community that had been hit pretty hard by the tornados. The group "Hands On Alabama" is organizing work weekends starting 5/21 thru mid-August. It definitely tugs at my heart and makes me want to go back to help.

Going to try to get a group of folks together and head down for a long weekend toward the end of June or end of July. If anyone is interested in joining me, shoot me an email at darinkroger@gmail.com

The more the merrier!!! God Bless and talk to y'all later.

Sunday, May 15th - Home Sweet Home

Attended worship this morning at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville and was blown away. What an awesome campus and facility...and a parking lot big enough to accommodate the truck & camper rig.

Ashley's graduation was awesome too. So proud of her and what she has been able to do and her work ethic. We all had a great late lunch at The Downtowner in Madison and then made the final leg of the journey home.

It was a great trip and an awesome experience but....it is GREAT to be HOME!!!

See y'all next time. God Bless and thanks again for all the support for our impromptu  mission trip.

Darin & Beth

May 14th - Saturday "The Return Trip"

Got up this morning and broke camp. Packed up everything and headed north on I-65.

Stopping in Louisville overnight and will attend Southeast Christian Church in the morning for worship. Then we'll head across the river and over to Hanover for Ashley's graduation from Ivy Tech at 1pm. Then finally home.

It's been a great trip and very enlightening. Possibly some ideas for the future. Hopefully more to come down the road...stay tuned.

"We'll be back!" ~ Kevin Costner in the closing scene of Silverado

May 13th - Day of Rest

Nuff said...LOL

May 12th - Thursday / Reunite Tuscaloosa

Thursday was our final day of volunteering. We were just flat worn out. However, we were able to really do some awesome things and meet some great people in the 5 days that we worked in Birmingham / Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

The big story on Thursday involved a young boy, 9 year old Emmanuel Ashford, from Austin, Texas that used to live in and attend school in Tuscaloosa. When he heard about the storms in his old hometown, he rallied his classmates in Austin to collect donations of clothing, canned goods, toiletries, etc. to get them to his old classmates in Tuscaloosa. They wrote letters, drew posters, and collected more than 2 pallets worth of donated goods in addition to some money. Now they had to get the items from Texas to Alabama.

A local Austin church was also collecting donations and was planning on renting a truck to get them to Alabama. So, Emmanuel’s family arranged for his donations to be loaded up on the church’s truck headed for Christian Service Mission in Birmingham, where we have been working. They would handle getting the items to Tuscaloosa from there.  Emmaneul’s Mom is a weekend anchor person for KXAN TV in Austin and so they followed the donations as they made their way to Tuscaloosa. 

They arrived on a truck late on Wednesday and Beth and I just happened to still be on the loading dock when it backed up. We helped unload the truck and that is when we learned about these two special pallets bound for Tuscaloosa.  Since we had been volunteering in Tuscaloosa as well, and had the big U-Haul truck, they asked if we would deliver the load on Thursday.  We, of course said yes.

We were able to connect with Emmanuel’s family and help them unload the donations and load them into the school. During this time, we found out that one of Emmanuel’s classmates had perished in the storms and that the family had attended the funeral earlier. We also were told that the school that was taking delivery of the donations was not the school that Emmanuel had attended. That school had been destroyed and they had combined the students into this particular building for the remaining few days of this school year. 

It was so humbling to be a part of this whole journey and to be responsible for the final leg from Austin to Tuscaloosa. But to hear the story of this young man and his HUGE heart for others certainly brought tears to all of our eyes. Oh, but to have the faith and the unconditional love of a child…that is my prayer for ALL of us!!!

You can follow his story on the KXAN website link below.

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/9-yr-old-trying-to-reunite-tuscaloosa

Our plan is to relax on Friday and then head home on Saturday to attend Ashley’s graduation ceremony from Ivy Tech on Sunday afternoon at Hanover College.

Oh, one last thing, Christian Service Mission was in need of Bibles to go out to those in need of them so we gave the case of Bibles from Bright Christian Church to them to be distributed. The notes and scriptures that church members wrote inside the covers will be read by folks all over Alabama. Thanks for showing God’s love to them. We also donated the remaining money that we had collected to Christian Service Mission to purchase items that were needed but were not being donated. They were certainly being good stewards and so we wanted to assist them to continue their efforts and aid.

We love you all and thank you for your generous support and prayers. Now Beth and I put out the challenge to all of you as well to go out and “LOVE GOD, LOVE PEOPLE, AND IMPACT THE WORLD”!!! We guarantee you will not regret it.

God Bless!!!

May 11th – Wednesday

So, since Sunday at noon, we have logged over 650 miles delivering meals and donated items to survivors of the Tornadoes of April 27^th all around Birmingham & Tuscaloosa. It has been so humbling to serve these people and their positive attitude and thankfulness for what they are receiving has been inspiring.

Early in the day, there was a call from Ft. Payne to the Christian Service Mission hotline. This is a small town that had been virtually overlooked and forgotten except by the residents of the community. Apparently, there had been two subdivisions of home wiped out and the survivors were gathering in a local campground to get water, food, and shelter.  It was going to be 90+ minute one-way trip so everyone was trying to figure out how many trucks to send to get them the supplies they needed in the most timely fashion. As we started talking about filling pickup trucks and sending multiple folks, it just seemed obvious to me to use a big box truck. Since there were none, Beth and I decided to use some of the donation funds from our friends and family to rent a big 17foot UHaul truck and just take everything in one trip. While we were out renting the truck, the pickers and packers went to work to stage everything that would need to go on the truck. Minutes later, we were back and packed to the gills to make the journey. 

3 teenagers helped us unload at their staging site and worked their butts off unpacking EVERYTHING that had been stuffed into that Uhaul truck. I think they were a bit dumb-struck when I opened the back door and they saw how much stuff we actually had for them.

We sat down last night and took at look where we had traveled on the map and we had almost hit the Georgia border…HA

Thursday will bring more of the same as I rented the Uhaul  for 2 days so we could really make some impact. We loaded 2 pallets of donations from Austin, TX. into it last night at the end of the day and will load more into it in the morning. All of this will go directly to Tuscaloosa so we will be headed back to University of Alabama again.

Again, thanks for following us and our progress and most importantly for your support with donated items and money. It is ALL going to good use down here as we try to be the best stewards of what we have been entrusted with. Love you all and God Bless!!! 

May 10th - Tuesday

This evening we are really feeling the events of the past few days catching up to us. I told Beth early this morning that my emotions are sitting right at the surface and it wasn’t going to take much to get the water-works flowing. I know myself pretty well because they did.

Beth had gone into a WalMart to buy baby care items (food, sippy cups, formula, etc.) and outdoor extension cords that we needed to take to Tuscaloosa with us and I stayed in the truck just to make sure that the donations that we already had in the back remained intact.  I was listening to a local radio station and they played a recorded call from a volunteer working who had been working in a trailer park that had been damaged and had a lot of people who were older, with special care needs, and some who were injured. This woman had received a call from her own family with a crisis that needed her attention and so she was leaving the people she had been assisting.  She was obviously very emotional and didn’t want to leave / abandon these people so she was begging for help for them.

The radio DJ’s stopped her to tell her that the station had arranged for 3 nurses and a truckload of medical supplies to head to that particular trailer park and that those nurses had left to head there just 15 minutes prior to this woman’s phone call and plea for help. They asked if she believed in God, she answered yes between the tears that she was crying, and they stated, “Well, He answered your prayers before you even had a chance to pray them.” As the call came to a close, the DJ’s said that “they needed a MOMENT before they could continue.”  Needless to say, this call affected them. Well, it affected me too so I had a nice little cry in the truck all by myself.  I told Beth what had happened when she got back to the truck while we loaded

The cool thing today was the ability to bring together the 2 groups that we have been volunteering with while we have been down here. The one group in Birmingham collects and distributes donations while the group in Tuscaloosa feeds people and does donation collection and distribution on a very limited basis.  We emailed with the main contact in Tuscaloosa last night to get a list of items needed and were able to fill our truck with items from the warehouse at Christian Mission Service in Birmingham this morning, and then take those items to Tuscaloosa.  We used some of the money that our friends and family donated for our trip to buy some items at Walmart, that I mentioned above, that they didn’t have at the warehouse.  Now the Tuscaloosa group, Disaster Assistance CoC, can make daily direct requests via email or phone or Facebook to Christian Mission Service and arrange for pickup of delivery of the items that they need.  Neither group knew about the other prior to the contact that Beth and I made with each of them…obviously God put us right where we needed to be so we could help make greater impact for BOTH groups.

Enough for today’s update. Sorry for the rambling and the run-on sentences. Love to you all…God Bless!!!

Monday, May 9th – Birmingham

Today we worked with the Christian Service Mission in Birmingham. They are very similar to our Matthew 25 Ministries in Cincinnati. They have a huge warehouse and manage the collection, sorting, and distribution of donations in Birmingham. They are a GREAT group of Christian Servants who have tirelessly been working since the day of the storms.

It was amazing how many donations they were dealing with on an ongoing basis. We were welcomed and then just dove in the deep end of the pool and paddled until we reached the surface.

After about an hour, I was finally able to meet up with the gentleman that I had been communicating with via email and cell phone, Mr. Hartwell Smith. He is one of the volunteers but is more of their overall project and needs manager.  When we sat down to introduce ourselves and talk about things, he asked, “Are all of you who are wearing the SHINE shirts from the same church group?” Of course I responded with, “By all of us, do you mean me and my wife? There are only two of us here wearing our Bright Christian Church SHINE shirts.” He replied, ”Well, for only two of you, I sure have seen a lot of that shirt moving around in here. You guys sure have been busy!!!”  I said, “We came to SERVE, not sit around!!!”

Within another hour, new volunteers were asking Beth and I what to do and who to talk to, like we had been there forever. You know how we both like to get in and start project managing things so we just tried our best to help the new folks out as best we could. We became fast friends with a lot of folks and spent time laughing, sweating, and of course crying with them.

Once they had sorted enough stuff, pickers started to come around to fill needs lists for surrounding communities and churches for distribution in outlying areas. Since we had a truck, we volunteered to load up and head out to meet folks face to face. It was awesome getting to interact with the folks at surrounding churches and get to love on some people and feel their gratitude and love in return. I’ve never blessed so many people and been blessed right back in such a short period of time. And all of them were just amazed that people from Indiana cared enough to send us and send donations along too.

Back at the warehouse we met many fellow Hoosiers…a fellow from Muncie working the grills to feed everyone lunch; a church group from Logansport, IN with a trailer full of donations; and even some people from Erlanger, KY. It was awesome and inspiring to see all of these Christians, from all over, in one place showing God’s love to so many in need.

We are headed back to Tuscaloosa tomorrow to server there again. Looking forward to it.

More later. Love to you all back in Indiana. God Bless!!!

Sunday, May 8th - Tuscaloosa

We started the day with worship at the Oak Mountain Church of Christ and then headed out to work with the Disaster Assistance CoC (Church of Christ) group in Tuscaloosa. We were really excited to start helping but nothing prepared us for what we found when we arrived on site.

As we drove in on the highway from Birmingham, there were areas of downed trees and blown over road signs but nothing that we hadn’t seen before…even from Hurricane Ike when it blew thru Greater Cincinnati. When we turned off the exit and headed toward the University of Alabama campus, things still looked fairly normal. However, about a mile off of the highway and we could see the affected areas off on the horizon.

The group we helped with is setup in the parking lot of the Central Church of Christ in Tuscaloosa…in front of where the church building USED to be. The devastation in the blocks surrounding the church was incredible and left us heart-broken.  Literally, it looks like a bomb went off. This group is a disaster response team, supported by several different Church of Christ congregations, and shows up in a 5^th wheel camper towing a trailer full of gear.  They come to cook and feed as many people as possible as quickly as possible. They have been serving upwards of 3000 daily meals to folks in the surrounding area.

They had just started taking physical donations and getting them organized when we arrived so we gave them ALL of the items that you all were so kind to supply us with. The folks were just amazed that we had traveled all the way from Indiana with donations for them.

Once we got the truck unloaded, we went to work delivering meals to anyone we could find that needed  something to eat or drink. We were blown away by what we saw as we traveled around and the destruction that had been caused. People were trying to reclaim what they could out of piles of rubble, people were trying to gather pets left behind, and everyone was trying to clear debris just so vehicles could make their way around.  We found people who  had no power, no water, no car to get around…but everyone was so grateful to get even a little help like a bagged meal and some bottled water.

We will post some pictures but, to give you some perspective…the old AND new offices of the Salvation Army were destroyed; the Red Cross office was terribly damaged; the local National Guard Post was destroyed as well with large trucks and equipment just tossed upside down in their parking lots. Then less than a mile away, there was a BW3 in perfect condition serving chicken wings.

So, we got back to the campsite and crashed. All in all a good day but very humbling.

May 7th - The Drive

So, I am posting this from Oak Mountain State Park just south of Birmingham. We are all checked in and the camper is setup. The drive was relatively uneventful but took awhile to accomodate my stiff knees...LOL. We got thru Louisville early enough that we missed the Derby traffic...who won anyway? Rained on and off most of the way here but never anything heavy just spotty showers, on and off.

One observation...Kentucky highways STINK!!! Especially 71 between Florence and Louisville...but even 65 was horrible. Not maintained well and full of pits and potholes. As soon as we crossed the Tennessee boarder, it was like night and day. Very well maintained and smooth. I'm only complaining because the rough ride jostled one of my camper tail-light covers off somewhere in KY...never to be seen again.

We started seeing noticeable damage about 90 miles north of Birmingham on 65. I'm sure we will see the really bad stuff tomorrow.

Using my iPad in the camper with my Verizon wireless hotspot so I gotta wrap things up.

We are going to worship tomorrow morning at a local church that invited us and then off to work. I can't wait!!!

May 5th - National Day of Prayer

Again, so humbled today by the generosity of our friends and family. The donation pile grew all day long and there were still more donations waiting for us at church Thursday evening. During the day people came up to us at Frisch's and handed us donations, people stopped me at Walmart to hand me a donation, it's just amazing to me how quickly this all came together and how responsive people have been to support us in our effore to help those in Alabama directly affected by the tornados.

One of the guys in my Men's Bible Study small group emailed me about dropping off a donation at the house at 1:30am, because he works 2nd shift. The subject of his email actually made me laugh out loud..."TORNADOCATION". That is right on the money...I couldn't have described this effort any better than that.

So, we went to the National Day of Prayer service at Bright Christian Church and were asked to share with the people what we are doing and how we came to the decision to ditch our "beach vacation" and to spend the week serving others. After getting choked up several times, Beth helped get our story out and the group prayed for us and our efforts.  We were also able to have each of the 24 Bibles, that the church has donated, signed by a specific church member along with a personal message from each person. We have messages from teens to Elders and Ministers in those Bibles and we will be putting them directly into the hands of those who need them. What a blessing.

Tonight, I packed up the donations from the driveway into the truck and got the tarp all bunjeed down and secured for the drive. We will finish collecting some miscellaneous donations and pick up some odds & ends on Friday and finish loading and packing the camper. Oh, and we still need to buy some food for ourselves and pack some clothes too....LOL

We all serve a Mighty and Merciful God and I can physically see / witness His power flowing thru and out of His people. Please continue to pray for those people in Alabama who are suffering and those who are already down there helping them.

T-Minus 1 day until we depart for Alabama and our TORNADOCATION. I can't wait.  :-)

May 4th - Amazing!!!

Got the camper to the house and promptly broke off the door stop that holds the door open. So, I had to run up to Colerain RV to get a replacement. Nice way to start the day. I was able to pick up some more Bibles at Family Christian Bookstore at the Northgate Mall as well.

Worked in an out of the house today while communicating with people who are still gathering donations for our trip.

So that was the kinda boring stuff. The AMAZING thing happended at Beth's Women's Bible Study that she leads every Wednesday night at Bright Christian Church. Several people from the church were bringing donations to Beth so the girls in her class found out about the trip to Alabama. They prayed for her before leaving for the night and, while she was out of the room, placed a bunch of anonymous monetary donations in her bag. Others were stuffing folded bills into her hand as they passed her in the hall. There were still others who had made arrangements to meet Beth before she left for home that also gave her some checks and enough physical donations to fill her VW. Thanks to Mike McAfee for loading it for her ;-)

When she got home, after we unloaded the VW, she sat and counted all of the money that people had just stuck into her Bible bag and into her hands. We were speachless when we realized just how much people had given out of the goodness of their hearts. AMAZING is all I can say!!!

More stuff showed up at home during the day too...batteries and some flashlights, which I know will come in handy. Again, we are truly blessed to know so many awesome people who are so willing to put the needs of others above their own.

God is definitely working His will in all of this as we truly put into practice our BCC Mission Statement of "Love God, Love People, and Impact the World."

May 3rd - Donations are coming in!!!

Beth and I are so very blessed to know such great people and have such generous friends...all with servant's hearts. While I was out getting 2 new tires on the truck, donations were showing up at the house.  And when the mail arrived, we had some checks show up too.

We now have some toiletries, toilet tissue, paper towels, and dog food. We still need more of those items in addition to tarps, light ropes for the tarps, duck tape, bug spray and some small hand sanitizers.

I was fortunate to be working out of the house most of the day so, I got to speak with most of those folks that dropped off stuff and share the details of what we are planning and how we came to the decision to skip our vacation plans and spend the week serving others instead. Bottom line is...It's a God thing. (more details later)

The kids (Nick, Casey and Ashley) are all reaching out to their social networks of friends and co-workers to gather donations. My Mom called last night, so excited to report that she had collected $13 from her friends and the village and was working on more. Other friends have contacted us to let us know that they are reaching out to their social and work networks as well. It is so cool to see how people respond to the misfortune of others.

I was able to reserve a campground space in Oak Mountain State Park on the southeast side of Birmingham which will serve as base-camp while we are in the area. Our thoughts are to spend a few days helping in Birmingham with Christian Service Mission and then a few days with Disaster Assistance CoC (Church of Christ) in Tuscaloosa, about an hour away.

The last news that I heard was that gasoline is scarce in the affected areas so I am going to transport some gas-cans with me and fill them to use, just in case, so we don't run out and get stranded somewhere.

Gotta get the camper to the house so we can prep it and get it packed so we can live in it for a week.

God is Great...keep praying for us, the trip, and the folks down there.

May 2nd - Trip Prep

5/2 - So starts our first BLOG. We hope that anyone who reads it will enjoy it. If anything is constant in our lives it is the following statement, "You just can't make this stuff up!"

Moved by God to be His hands & feet in Alabama, instead of relaxing beach vacation in Destin, Florida, we will journal our way thru this experience as best we can and start at, where else, the beginning.

Spent a big chunk of the day reaching out to different organizations and communicating with folks "on the ground" to find a destination where we can help out. Headed to either Birmingham or Tuscaloosa. So much need in both places as well as in smaller towns in the surrounding areas.

One group I spoke with seems to specialize in nutrition and has been feeding 3000 folks each day from the parking lot of a destroyed church...Central Church of Christ in Tuscaloosa. The other group has a large warehouse facility and handles the incoming donations of items, sorting & repacking them, and then getting them out to the surrounding communities...Christian Service Mission in Birmingham. Both are doing amazing work.

Reached out via social networking to friends in an attempt to gather donations and ask for prayer for our upcoming trip. Great responses already.

Tomorrow brings 2 new tires for the truck and making arrangements to gather incoming donations of physical goods and money so that we are prepared to make the most direct impact possible in the short period of time we have available to us.

Praying tonight that we are making good decisions that follow God's direction. More updates tomorrow. Goodnight and God bless.

Big request from folks in both towns is this...Please pray for the relief workers who are already there. They are burning the candle at both ends but keep serving those in need.