On the Ground in Americus, Georgia - Americus, GA -Hearts With Hands sent an advance team early Friday morning to check on the damages caused by a recent outbreak of  tornadoes in Alabama and Georgia. While en route to Enterprise, AL the team received a request from a small church located in Americus, GA requesting the organizations assistance.The team immediately changed direction and headed for Americus, GA. Upon arrival the team met with Pastor Stacey Penland of the Greater Vision Baptist Church. Pastor Penland advised that Americus had suffered extreme damage and about 500 homes were either destroyed or damaged. The city’s hospital was damaged beyond use and there was no electricity in the area. Executive Director Bill Bradley and Operations Director Mike West talked with the Sheriff and determined what was needed. It was determined that the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army would take care of feeding hot meals for a few days and that Hearts With Hands, Inc. needed to set up a base of operations outside the city to support with non perishable relief supplies.
Bill Bradley and Mike West met with about twenty volunteers from the church and trained them in emergency response and distribution. It was decided that the church would be most effective by putting together teams to go into the disaster areas and assess the need. One Hearts With Hands, Inc. Survey Form was adapted to be used by the church. The teams went into the areas and found several people who were without electricity and in need of assistance. Hearts With Hands, Inc. had a load of relief supplies from Asheville on site in Americus early Saturday morning for distribution. By late Sunday night, over twenty families had been helped. The church will continue to maintain a distribution center for as long as needed. According to local officials, many of the businesses located in town, particularly the hospital, had been significantly damaged or destroyed, causing many people to be unemployed for an undetermined amount of time. On Sunday, emergency management officials for the city advised it would cost over 35 million dollars to replace the hospital and a temporary mobile hospital unit had been set up by the state. Over 50 homes were completely destroyed and over 500 had significant damage.
Hearts With Hands, Inc. Receives Donation From Church in Republic of Georgia - Hearts With Hands, Inc. responded to central Florida to assist the victims that fell prey to deadly tornados in early February. Executive Director Bill Bradley conducted a live update to Trinity Baptist Church Asheville on Sunday morning to the congregation. Little did Bradley know that a small church, Grace Baptist Church in the Republic of Georgia was listening via the Trinity Baptist Church internet broadcast. Pastor Jerry Young, associate Pastor at Trinity Baptist, received a call from the church stating that they wanted to donate to help the tornado victims in Florida.
To provide a little background about the Republic of Georgia Pastor Young prepared the following statement. "The recorded history of Georgia dates back more than 4,000 years. The culture of Georgia has evolved over the country's long history, providing it with a strong literary tradition. The unique Georgian alphabet is among the fourteen existing ones in the world and dates back to the 5th century BC. Georgia has historically found itself on the margins of great empires. Its territory was and still is desirable land for the great Asian empires in the course of centuries. Despite numerous invasions and wars, Georgia's greatest and most prominent king managed to unite Georgia in the XII century. In current history there has been a state of reconstruction and an unfolding or culmination of this cultural, social-economic resurgence and construction of churches and monasteries.
Georgia has experienced such a great number of assaults and still been able to preserve many of its characteristics. The numerous churches and fortifications bear witness to the country’s restless historic past. The last conqueror, Russia,started annexation of Georgia in 1801. Georgia spent almost 200 years of its recent history being part of the Russian empire: first as Russia's province, then as a Soviet republic. Independent for three years (1918-1921) following the Russian revolution, it was forcibly incorporated into the USSR. In 1991, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia declared independence from the U.S.S.R. and in 1992 became the 179th member of the United Nations.
Pastor Young began traveling there in 1990 as a representative of the Russian Bible Society here in Asheville. The first time he visited there, he fell in love with the people, their culture and their warm hospitality. The Lord placed upon his heart a tremendous burden to reach them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Although they had a great heritage of so called Christianity, which was primarily a state religion, the Georgian Orthodox Church was the primary religion. Anglicans, Roman Catholics, some small Baptist Congregations, Islam and other forms of religion have coexisted together for centuries.
Pastor Young has traveled there taking different groups every year since 1990. In the beginning they just distributed Bibles and Gospels of John, trying to encourage the two Baptist churches there in Tbilisi. In 1994 they began having crusades, using different facilities that could rented for six or seven nights. The Lord was gracious to move in hearts and lives, and many people were saved and began following the Lord in believer’s baptism. Pastor Young began praying for the Lord to provide a missionary who could continue to disciple the new converts. Brother Randy Shields, after going with Pastor Young on two different occasions, felt that God had called his family to work in that area.
Unfortunately, after two years Brother Shields’ wife became weary with missionary life and the Spartan conditions of the country and returned to the USA. They left a small group of believers without a shepherd. The Lord raised up Brother Gary Arutinov to continue this ministry, since he had a heart to see that a Bible believing independent Baptist church was established. They met in Brother Arutinov’s home for some time, and then they were able to purchase a larger place to live and to have services on Sunday and Thursday. In 1998, Pastor Young and other concerned Christians helped them purchase more property and were able to raise the funds here in the USA to build a church building. As evidenced in this photograph, they have continued to grow and are filled to capacity now. They have faithfully labored, and God has been pleased to “give the increase” with more people coming to the Lord every week. They provide humanitarian aid to people like the gypsies who live in their city; they try to take care of the widows, visit the jails, and have summer camps for the children. They have a vision to open a clinic as they have two doctors who also want to use their gifts to minister physically and spiritually. Unfortunately, they lack equipment and supplies for this.
A small contingent of their members travel with Pastor Young to his wife Nina’s hometown, Batumi, Georgia, on the Black Sea Coast. They have faithfully worked with us in tract distribution on the streets and evangelizing and discipling the new believers in Batumi. "This blessed ministry is a personal blessing to my wife and I," states Pastor Young, " I am so excited about all of the wonderful ministering possibilities there." Pastor Young apologizes for going on and on about Georgia, but he says it stirs his heart every day to think of all the wonderful possibilities there.
Dr. Ralph Sexton, Jr. and Pastor Jerry Young presented $300 ($540 US) to Hearts With Hands, Inc. Executive Director Bill Bradley at Trinity Baptist Church this past Sunday morning to assist the tornado victims in central Florida. Grace Baptist Church in the Republic of Georgia has about 175 regular members and is filled to capacity. We want to thank Grace Baptist Church for their generosity and compassion, and trust that God will continue to bless them.
 Update on Florida Tornadoes - Leesburg, FL - Hearts With Hands, Inc. is continuing to distribute food and disaster relief supplies to the victims of the deadly tornado that devastated central Florida. Operations Director, Mike West, contacted distribution points and other ministries throughout the tornado-ravaged area and distributed over 80,000 pounds of food and supplies. These items are being brought to the church on an almost daily basis by other churches and individuals. Grace Bible Baptist Church volunteers continue to deliver meals and supplies into the areas and Hearts With Hands, Inc. has provided assistance to several churches and organizations in the disaster area.
Grace Bible Baptist Church continues to monitor a phone line dedicated to disaster relief and is helping victims as they call. The church has also set up an area inside one of their buildings to store and distribute food and supplies as requests are received. Pastor George Mullford, Senior Pastor of Grace Bible Baptist Church told Bill Bradley, Executive Director of Hearts With Hands, Inc., that he was still rejoicing over the four adults who had turned their lives over to Christ as the church and Hearts With Hands, Inc. worked together helping storm victims. Bradley stated, “That is the way it is supposed to work. Hearts With Hands, Inc. comes in and teaches the church how to provide disaster relief, furnishes the food and supplies, and then Hearts With Hands, Inc. fades into the background. It then becomes a ministry of the local church.”Hearts With Hands, Inc. will continue to work through Grace Bible Baptist Church as long as there is a need. All volunteers wishing to work on debris removal crews are being directed to one of the local organizations working in the area. Local officials have stated that within about six weeks the debris removal and the infrastructure should be restored.
Hearts With Hands, Inc. Working in Central Florida - Leesburg, FL - An advance team left for central Florida Friday to assist disaster victims who fell prey to one of the worst  tornados to devastate the area in years. Upon arrival, the team made a general assessment of the area to determine where assistance would most likely be needed. Most roads and streets were closed as emergency personnel searched for victims, since it was barely twenty-four hours since the F-3 tornado had set down. The team contacted churches in the area and determined that Grace Bible Baptist Church in Fruitland Park, FL had an area large enough to accommodate the organization’s tractor trailers and other equipment. Grace Bible Baptist came with another desperately needed resource…volunteers. Pastor George Mulford asked his congregation of about 300 members who could help with the disaster relief effort, and a show of hands indicated interest from about 35 members.
When Hearts With Hands Executive Director Bill Bradley and Operations Director Mike West arrived at the church, they were in for a welcomed surprise. Over 75 members had gathered indicating they wanted to help.Pastor Mulford stated he was surprised as well to see the turn out. Bradley and West presented the Hearts With Hands program and answered questions. It was agreed that the volunteers would be divided into teams, and Bradley and West advised them of the areas that would need to be covered, i.e. as answering telephones, sorting and packing food and disaster relief supplies, and the distribution of the supplies to the victims in the area. While in this informational meeting, another Hearts With Hands team led by Logistics Manager Benton Riddle and volunteer Kenny Kronk from Asheville arrived to set up one of the organization’s 40’ by 40’ tents which would serve as a distribution center.
Early the next morning, one of the Hearts With Hands’ semi’s loaded with relief supplies slowly backed into the parking lot. A group of volunteers armed with work gloves and hand carts descended upon the 53’, 40,000+ pound trailer load of supplies. One company donated the use of a farm tractor equipped with forks to offload the pallets of bottled water, diapers, blankets, paper goods, and the distinctive red and white disaster boxes prepared with food and other supplies packed by volunteers in Asheville in anticipation of this day.  As the army of volunteers unloaded the truck they became a well-oiled machine moving product into the designated areas. After about four hours, the inside of the tent resembled a well stocked country store with supplies being meticulously positioned on tables with hand printed signs announcing the various items.
Late in the afternoon as water and other items were being tarped with plastic in case it rained, Mr. Bradley received a call from Northland Hills Presbyterian Church requesting assistance in distributing the hot meals they had prepared for the disaster areas. Police officers led the convoy of volunteers displaying their newly made Grace Bible Baptist Church and Hearts With Hands, Inc. Disaster Relief Team” magnetic signs. Each member wore their bright yellow GBBC and HWH t-shirts, complete with logos into the devastated areas. Debris from homes, branches from trees, and intertwining, tangling, neverending lengths of power lines, broken light poles, and chain link fences cluttered the streets. Volunteers manned their coolers and distributed Styrofoam boxes of freshly prepared hot meals to victims and utility workers. Residents were also given non-perishable food products, water, and other supplies to assist while clean up efforts began. Despite their exhaustion, the volunteers returned to Grace Bible Baptist Church, exciting conversation grew about helping these victims only separated by a few streets and road signs, their neighbors, with each returning vehicle.
After receiving a call for assistance from one of the volunteers, Bill Bradley, Mike West, and Daryl Inman, the volunteer videographer for Hearts With Hands, proceeded to the small 700 resident town of Paisley. Longtime friend and Hearts With Hands volunteer, Alan Woody and his lovely wife, Jo from Inverness, FL also followed the group to Paisley.
Upon arrival in the small town, tornado damage was not evident along the main road. As the group traveled into a rural section of the town, wind damage became evident by debris scattered in the road. Daryl Inman worked his 6’ 8” frame and video camera through the window so he could shoot video from the top of the vehicle. Around the next curve on the right, a home had been totally imploded, as if by a bomb. Completely destroyed by the 160 mile per hour twisting winds, the house lay in an entanglement of tree limbs, power lines, and household wreckage. One hundred yards down the road on a small hill, it became evident this area had been hit by a force so ferocious that the bark had been stripped from the few trees which were able to withstand the devastating winds. Homes, primarily of mobile home construction, were completely obliterated with their metal frames twisted and wrapped around cars, trees, anything else that lay in their way. This is where the team learned that the ferociousness of this storm had not only destroyed property and homes in a natural fury, but the lives of 13 people had been taken.
A short distance down the road, a young lady in a partial body cast immobilizing her injured arm searched for personal items that would help her retain the memory of her husband and ten year old son who perished in the storm.
Small pup tents surrounded by coolers and camping gear set up in the middle of the debris fields were evidence that many of the residents were not going to leave the area. Many were working to sort anything salvageable to be sold or used later. Of course, personal items particularly those of sentimental value held a high priority. Tomorrow we will start sending volunteers to assist with debris removal and we will continue delivering “a cold cup of water in Jesus’ name.”
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Deadly Tornado Claims Two Lives, Leaves Thosands Without Power, and Destroys Residences and Businesses - Birmingham, AL