Baylor Volunteers Join Texans on Mission for Texas Flood Relief
BearAid students, faculty and staff partner with Texas Baptists’ disaster relief ministry to aid rebuilding, cleanup in Kerrville, San Angelo
Texans on Mission welcomed volunteers with Baylor’s BearAid Disaster Relief team to Kerr County, Texas, to help rebuild homes damaged by flooding. (Chad Warner/Baylor University)
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On July 4, catastrophic flash floods swept across central Texas, causing more than 100 deaths, massive destruction and displacement throughout multiple counties in the state. Over the past two months, Baylor University faculty, staff and volunteers with BearAid student disaster relief organization partnered with Texans on Mission (TXM) to aid cleanup and rebuilding efforts in Kerr County and San Angelo.
As the ministry of Texas Baptists transitioned from emergency relief and cleanup to long-term rebuilding efforts, TXM welcomed Baylor’s BearAid Disaster Relief team to Kerr County on Sept. 19-20. Over the two days, BearAid student and staff volunteers helped rebuild homes damaged by flooding by installing drywall, clearing debris, painting and more.
“BearAid is a student organization dedicated to serving our neighbors and participating in transformational service, especially following natural disasters,” said Rebecca Kennedy, assistant dean of Spiritual Life and associate chaplain. “We are best positioned to help in the relief and recovery stages, and we were blessed to serve in Kerr County alongside a fellow Texas Baptist ministry in Texans on Mission. We have had some of their leaders come down and train our students so we can be as prepared as possible to meaningfully and helpfully serve in ways that show our love and care as a university. This opportunity to serve our neighbors who have lost so much sits at the heart of Baylor’s Christian mission.”
"BearAid is a student organization dedicated to serving our neighbors and participating in transformational service, especially following natural disasters. This opportunity to serve our neighbors who have lost so much sits at the heart of Baylor’s Christian mission." Rebecca Kennedy, assistant dean of Spiritual Life and associate chaplain
Answering the call
In August, a Baylor volunteer team of four students, 17 faculty and staff members, and one alumnus spent a day alongside TXM volunteers rebuilding homes in flood-devastated San Angelo. On July 4, San Angelo received a foot of rain that caused the Concho River to rise rapidly to 14 feet – damaging an estimated 12,000 homes. Numerous families in the sustained damage to their property and possessions, and the team's primary purpose was to help restore and rebuild what was lost.
“We care deeply about being able to serve when we can and to help our neighbors in need, and there certainly has been lots of that as a result of the July 4th storms,” Molly Simpson, assistant director for service at Baylor, told TXM.
Sabrina Pinales, TXM’s director of missions and discipleships, worked alongside the BearAid team, which received quick training after arrival and jumped right in to cut and hang sheetrock and insulation in two houses.
“We are so thankful that Baylor answered the call to serve with Texans on Mission. Volunteers are essential in rebuilding a community after a disaster,” and the Baylor group has been “a tremendous blessing to families impacted by the recent flooding,” Pinales said to Texans on Mission.
“We are so thankful that Baylor answered the call to serve with Texans on Mission. Volunteers are essential in rebuilding a community after a disaster.” Sabrina Pinales, Texans on Mission director of missions and discipleships
In mid-July, in the wake of the Texas floods, Baylor students, faculty and staff – and even incoming Baylor freshmen attending Line Camp – joined Baylor Missions, Service and Public Life and the BearAid Disaster Relief Team to pack 200 flood relief buckets in partnership with UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief). BearAid students delivered the completed kits directly to UMCOR’s facility in Kerrville to be distributed to Kerr County families.
After disasters, local stores can quickly run out of necessary supplies. Each kit contained laundry detergent, household cleaner, dish soap, air freshener, insect repellent, scrub brush, reusable cleaning wipes, scouring pads, clothespins, clothesline, trash bags, dust masks, kitchen gloves and work gloves. The relief kits provide a tangible source of relief to families as they begin cleaning up flood-damaged homes.
For incoming Baylor freshmen participating in a Baylor Missions event, they experienced firsthand what is at the heart of Baylor – its mission – “to educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service by integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment within a caring community.”
“We want them to know not only what Baylor is about but for them to understand this is now their responsibility as a Baylor student – to carry on the legacy of service to our neighbors,” Kennedy said.
BearAid grows in service
BearAid actually got its start in the earliest months of the COVID-19 pandemic, which introduced new needs to the students on Baylor’s campus. In fall 2020, BearAid’s first mission was to take necessities, like food and supplies, to students who were in quarantine. After the height of the pandemic, the team wondered how they could continue to serve those beyond the Baylor community.
Over the years, the BearAid student and staff team have grown to become a domestic disaster relief program with a dedicated semi-trailer, which allows them to aid recovery efforts and distribute supplies across the country. For example, BearAid has responded to clean-up efforts in LaPlace, Louisiana, that was devastated by Hurricane Ida in August 2021; Mayfield, Kentucky, which was severely damaged in December 2021 by one of the longest-tracked tornadoes in history; and Rolling Fork, Mississippi, where the BearAid team delivered supplies and hot meals to a community ravaged by a tornado in March 2023.
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