Local labors

Disasters: A nationwide outpouring is helping hurricane-ravaged Texas, but a lot of help is also coming from within the Lone Star State | Alisa Harris

Jim Whitmer/Southern Baptist Disaster Relief

When a Category 5 hurricane hit Texas, killing 58, Cameron Byler and Bob Dixon of Texas Baptist Men (TBM) set up "buddy-burners" in the back of a pickup truck and began serving hot food. The year was 1967, the storm was Hurricane Beulah, and Byler and Dixon were the first Southern Baptist disaster relief team. Byler later coordinated Baptist volunteers in different states to form Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, forging a Southern Baptist partnership with the American Red Cross.

Forty-one years after Beulah, Texas has seen an outpouring of support from across the nation in the wake of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. But it helps that the state already has a solid network of faith-based organizations, including faith-based disaster relief organizations. Joe Conway, public relations officer for Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, said, "Texas has the volunteers, history, and infrastructure to give it a strong disaster relief network."