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By Editor Becky Watts
BARNESVILLE - Barnesville Nazarene Church knows what it is like to help in the middle of a disaster. The tornado that struck Barnesville in 2011 gave them the opportunity to reach out and help those affected by the tornado by becoming the central aid location for our area. Members of the church and the community spent countless hours helping clean up debris and both delivering and handing out needed items at the church. Now that a tornado has struck in Moore, Oklahoma, the call to help a community in need is going out again.
As the last truck left the church in 2011, God gave Pastor Lonnie Grant a vision of how the church could help with tornado clean up efforts in future events based on buckets full of cleaning supplies that were sent to Barnesville by a church out west. “Why can’t we do this?” he thought. “Because of our experiences here in Barnesville, we know the needs for those helping clean up after a tornado.”
Items like ear plugs, thick gloves, a pair of goggles, eye drops, sun block, and contractor trash bags that can hold insulation could be placed in a 5 gallon bucket and handed to volunteers as they prepare to go into an area struck by a tornado. Even the bucket could be turned into a carrier for storm debris. Every item would be designed to keep volunteers safe and prepare them with the proper tools to help others in a time of disaster.
Lonnie said that his dream was limited in scope to begin with. The church has a 17,000 square foot facility that is designed to have a gym on the bottom floor with Sunday School classrooms up top. Why not just do a little—maybe 75 buckets to begin with—and then make preparations to prepare and stack many more buckets on pallets so semi trucks could distribute to affected areas.
Discussion began on how to make this vision reality over the past year. 25,000 buckets without lids were donated to this new ministry that is called Buckets of Compassion. Then God ordained a meeting between a church member and someone who works in a factory that makes the buckets that were donated, and 150 of the buckets now have lids with a way to obtain more lids in the future. And church members found items for the buckets and got the process rolling with plenty of time. So they thought.
When the tornado hit in Oklahoma, the general consensus was, “We have got to do something,” he said. “We have got to go where the storm is.” Preparations began with a meeting on Wednesday afternoon at the church. There was more discussion outside of the meeting and during church on Wednesday night. A phone call was made to ensure that the Buckets of Compassion could be distributed to volunteers through a local church, Trinity Church of the Nazarene in Oklahoma City, which has been designated as the relief resource center for both the Southwest Oklahoma and the Oklahoma City Districts.
Donations have begun pouring in. $2,100 so far which will cover the cost of the first trip to Oklahoma, filling the first 150 Compassion Buckets, and getting them on the road on Saturday. And preparations are being made for future trips with more buckets as they are needed.
“We are trying to keep the cost low… under $10 per bucket and still put quality items in the buckets,” Lonnie said. There will also be a card in each bucket that tells volunteers that they have been prayed for and thank them for volunteering. Lonnie says that the church is working to provide long-term relief to tornado stricken areas. We are here to help the supply the volunteers with the proper tools, he said.
Volunteers will meet on Saturday, May 25th at 10 a.m. at Barnesville Nazarene Church to pack the first 150 Buckets of Compassion. You do not have to be a member of the church to help pack these buckets. It is a community outreach effort.
Donations of bottled water and Gatorade are also being accepted at Barnesville Nazarene Church located by railroad tracks at Hwy. 341 and Thomaston Road. Call 770-358-1314 before bringing your donation to be sure someone is there to accept it. You can also bring a check for Tornado Relief written out to Barnesville Nazarene Church with "Tornado Relief" on the memo line or you can send it to: Barnesville Nazarene Church, PO Box 376, Barnesville GA 30204.
