Oklahoma Baptist Volunteers Help With Missouri Flood Relief

Dan Bewley, News On 6

POPLAR BLUFF, Missouri -- Some of Oklahoma's Own are in Missouri helping flood victims clean up a muddy mess. Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers left Monday morning for Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

5/15/2011 Related Story: Oklahoma Baptist Volunteers Heading To Poplar Bluff, Missouri

"Everything's gone," Linda Hicks said. "We can save nothing. We have no homes to live in. It's a loss."

Linda Hicks has lost everything. All of what was once inside her home is now in a big pile outside her home. It's the result of nine straight days of rain in late April. Three to five inches of rain covered her street in the small town of Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

The disaster is what brought together volunteers with the Oklahoma chapter of the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Organization

"Giving it forward," David Kastner said. "We feel called to do it as a ministry from our Lord."

Kastner's group of 13 volunteers will spend a week in Poplar Bluff using heavy duty equipment to clean up flooded homes. They're called a "mud out" team. They clean and sanitize each home.

"Pretty intense work and it can be real, it can be very hard work too," Jackie Pledger said.

Linda Hicks can't wait for them to get to her house.

"They're wonderful," she said. They are very, very wonderful."

Kastner's team will be in Missouri for a week. After that, two more teams will each spend a week in Poplar Bluff.