Samaritan's Purse Helping

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/

One month later our community is getting an international response with emergency assistance now coming from Canada.

Volunteers of the international relief group, Samaritan's Purse, are in our area. NewsChannel 34's Michelle Marsh talked with volunteers about how they plan on making a difference.
For more than 35 years Samaritan's Purse has traveled the world helping people in need. Friday, the international relief organization is preparing to help flood victims in our area. This group traveled from Canada. Claus Burchert is the base leader.

Claus Burchert says, "We'll send people out to assess the damage, to see what's going to be required, what kind of tools, what size team, we'll organize all of that."

Burchert says he watched the sheer devastation the flood left behind on television for days. He says when his team of volunteers heard the call for help they responded.

Burchert says, "People become overwhelmed because they are trying to keep their jobs, they're trying to keep their life going. We have tools hopefully we will have enough volunteers so that we can go out one house at a time."

This truck will be their home base, inside are tools and an office. So far four volunteers are in town but they expect more to join them soon. They'll begin working this weekend.

Burchert says, “Our function here for our teams working here will be more cleanup, getting the mud out putting up dry walls. I believe it will be quite similar to what we did down in the gulf coast with Katrina, stripping everything down to the studs.”

Davis College is also helping in the relief effort, providing dorm rooms and food for Samaritan's Purse volunteers.

Strawn says, "I thought to myself we have all the logistics already, where they can just pull on and get ready to go. We'll have a few challenges when the students come back but we'll work on that because obviously inconvenience is redefined when you see what some people have gone through."

Volunteers from Samaritan's Purse and officials from Davis College say they are confident their efforts will make a difference as families rebuild and start over.

Samaritan's Purse will be setting up a hotline and website for flood victims. Newschannel 34 will have that information for you on Monday when it becomes available.

For Full Info On The Blog: http://binghamtonfloodrelief.blogspot.com/2006/07/index.html