LU Send Now Teams Complete First Project in South Carolina

LU Send Now Teams Complete First Project in South Carolina
Amelia Whittaker

Liberty University’s new disaster response program sent out its first two team on Oct. 13 and Oct. 20, to South Carolina to help with the flood damage the state has experienced.

LU Send Now is a new disaster relief program that branches from the current LU Send program that gives students the opportunity to travel and experience culture. This new program was just announced at the beginning of September by the senior vice president for spiritual development, David Nasser. The program is one that will respond to different disasters or crises, all over the world, by sending out students to serve in the affected area.

“This program is going to help spread the light and love of Jesus during times of need,” Jenny Hashpeg, current student at Liberty University said.

Even though it was still in the beginning stages, the university saw the need that flooding created so they decided to go ahead and assemble two teams. Each team consisted of about 20 students who traveled to Columbia, South Carolina to help by cleaning and tearing down destroyed houses. Both teams spent six days working on various projects and interacting with people affected by the damage while spending their nights in a local Shandon Baptist Church.

The damage from the flooding was evident when the group arrived and saw standing water still in the fields. There was mold growing on almost everything that had been exposed to the extreme amounts of water.

“When we arrived we had to get out of the bus and walk to our site because the roads were completely washed out,” Shana Davis, a student who traveled with the team said.

An average day for the LU Send Now team consisted of:
• Waking at 6 a.m. for breakfast and devotions
• Travel to site for day
• Work to breakdown walls, floors, installation, anything left in destroyed houses
• Leave site at 6 p.m.
• Dinner, showers, share time with team and bed

The team worked along with hundreds of other volunteers that came each day to help serve the victims of this disaster. The houses that were flooded have to be torn down completely before they can begin to think about rebuilding. The work of tearing the houses down will last for several more weeks as other volunteers continue to pour in to help with this task.