Above: Jay Baughm, Director of the Baptist On Mission Lumberton Rebuild Center, shows the statement that staff and volunteers work under while they serve Lumberton residents. David Kennard | The Robesonian
Baptists building homes: Army of volunteers helps with hurricane recovery
David Kennard
The Robesonian
LUMBERTON — Four gentlemen worked quietly Wednesday morning to put the finishing touches on a kitchen in a newly built home; it was a replacement for a home submerged by Hurricane Florence flooding in 2018.
That was seven years ago. In that time, Baptists on Mission has mobilized a small army made up mostly of volunteers from around the country who answered a call to come serve in Lumberton.
Baptist on Mission has demolished and constructed 24 new homes locally since Florence slogged through Robeson County.
“We can build about five homes a year,” said Jay Baughm, Director of Baptist On Mission Lumberton Rebuild Center. “If we get things rolling well. We can do a lot of good for a lot of people here.”
Part of Baughm’s job is coordinating the swell of volunteers that, like the storms before them, flood Lumberton with big hearts and tool belts ready to serve. The local outreach is an auxiliary to the Baptist State Convention of NC, which is a 501c3 tax-exempt organization.
The Lumberton Disaster Relief Center can house up to 150 volunteers at any one time, but Baughm said it’s more typical to have about 90 people working on projects around the area.
When the call went out after Florence put much of the city under water, the local disaster relief center set up shop in a vacant warehouse in Lumberton and went to work.
In the beginning teams went out looking for work to do — repairing roofs, mucking out mud, and general repair to local properties. Total house replacement is a bigger endeavor — primarily because of the price of building materials. The organization works with home owners to secure funding from FEMA, North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) and other state or federal agencies.
With post-Florence work beginning to wind down, Baughm is taking on a new mission outside of the Lumberton region.
In his place Sam Otten has stepped up to answer the call of service in Lumberton. The 22-year-old has already been very hands on working with the local operation.
“We have five more homes on our list for demolition,” Otten said. On Wednesday, Otten was operating a tractor in preparation for a new foundation.
“We contract out some work,” Otten said, who has a background in construction.
He’s slowly been taking on more of the duties required at the Lumberton Disaster Relief Center, including visiting work sites, running down material needed and working with local building code inspectors.
“We’ve got a good relationship with the city,” Otten said. “They’ve said they like that we are helping people move back to Lumberton.”
The local Baptist on Mission center is one of thousands scattered around the world, including six centers opened in Western North Carolina, when Hurricane Helene tore through the region last year.
Like so many displaced by disaster, the staff and volunteers push forward with faith.
“We trust in God to provide,” Otten said. Lumberton residents who have been the recipients of that faith say their lives have changed.
“When the water came in, there was no stopping it,” said Verneeta Butler for an article in Baptists on Mission magazine. She said water gushed through the kitchen. “Water was everywhere.”
It’s been almost a year ago today that the Butlers took possession of their new home, which was built in the same Lumberton location. The new house, however, sits on top of a 4-foot foundation, higher than the highest floodwaters to ever visit their south Lumberton neighborhood.
“There’s a reason God wanted us to rebuild right here,” John Butler said. “He wanted us to be a lighthouse to this community.”
Like the Butlers, dozens more residents smile when volunteers, clad in work jeans and yellow T-shirts show up to start working.
