UMC chaplain talks about providing aid to ravaged Southern states

• By RJ Walters, Editor •

When severe storms and tornadoes ripped through the Southern states and caused death and destruction in late April, the Rev. Tim Hastings was quick to provide aid.

A United Methodist chaplain in Saginaw, Hastings ventured to Hackleburg, Ala. as part of a national Spiritual Care Response Team that partners with the Red Cross to provide victims of disaster with resources and spiritual encouragement.

Wading through the damage caused by an EF5 classified tornado (which included winds of up to 200 mph; only 56 tornadoes have been classified so destructive since 1950) Hastings listened to people’s stories and led them through the valley of the shadow of death.

“It just was total devastation and we were calling people up and holding hands with those that had lost loved ones,” he said. “The first thing we would do is say, ‘Tell me your story,’ and for 45 minutes usually they just told and told and talked and talked about everything that happened and we were able to give them a little bit of an economic boost from the Red Cross as well; just to have the privilege of being with these people who had lost so much.”

At the 2011 Detroit Annual Conference Hastings unexpectedly ran into someone with connections to Hackleburg.

Someone came up to him and mentioned their church had sent a semi-truck full of goods to the Church of God Prophecy in the small town of roughly 1,500.

“The only thing (still) existing of the Church of God of Prophecy is the front of the church and the steeple — the rest is gone,” Hastings said. “But they have tents set up and they are ministering to everybody else and it’s known in the faith community that they are reaching out and they were helping long before a lot of organizations got there.”

Hastings said people who want to assist with relief efforts should donate funds through the United Methodist Committee on Relief (www.umcor.org) because “every dollar goes directly to the cause” or people can get involved as “spontaneous volunteers” through the Red Cross.

Posted in: Church of God of Prophecy,disaster response,Hackleburg,Red Cross,Rev. Tim Hasting