Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers to deploy to Poland to assist Ukrainian refugees
A team of Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers is being deployed to Poland to help care for the millions of refugees streaming out of Ukraine.
Ricky Thrasher, interim director of Disaster Relief, said the eight-member team will spend eight days helping Polish churches minister to the displaced Ukrainians, largely women and children, who fled their home country to find safety outside the war zone.
More than 3.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began, and that number is growing every day, according to the United Nations. Most of the refugees have gone to Poland. Millions of others have been displaced within Ukraine.
Thrasher said the Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers are eager to get into place to help in the humanitarian crisis.
“They’re like the Marines of the Baptist world, always ready to go wherever they’re needed and to do what needs to be done,” he said.
Thrasher said the volunteers will have a wide array of duties, including cooking, cleaning, helping to conduct health screenings, providing
childcare, and distributing goods.
Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers are most often deployed within the U.S., having ministered over the past year to victims of tornadoes in their home state, a major hurricane in Louisiana, and wildfires that destroyed homes in Colorado.
Georgia has about 7,000 trained disaster relief volunteers who serve in chainsaw brigades to clear fallen trees from homes and property after tornadoes and hurricanes, who man mobile kitchens in disaster areas, who spend long days shoveling mud and carrying soggy furnishing from flooded homes, who set up mobile showers and laundromats for survivors and volunteers in hard-hit areas.
In Poland, the team being led by long-time Disaster Relief volunteer Bob Sprinkel will help see to basic needs of refugees, helping to arrange food and shelter.
“My heart is in it,” Sprinkel said. “It’s what I desire to do. It’s why I’m part of Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief, to serve Christ in crisis. I feel so honored to be able to go there, to help the people. I wish there was more we could do.”
That’s true for every Disaster Relief worker, Sprinkel said.
“I would describe them as the best of the best,” he said. “They are super people. They are very well trained, disciplined, and they love Christ without question. I’ve served with each one of them many times before, and they’re very hard workers.”
The Georgia Baptists will be deployed from May 8 through May 16, serving multiple sites in Poland.