Greg's Story - Responding to a flood at his home church.
When Greg participated in the CRR training, he was expecting to serve in other communities. Little did he know he would need it in his own.
When Tropical Storm Debby moved through the region, heavy rain and flooding created urgent needs in communities across the area. For Greg, one of CRR’s Immediate Relief Team members, the call for help came close to home.
On Friday, Greg received word that his home church, Nittany Bible Church, had taken on water after losing power to the building. With the power out, the church’s sump pumps stopped working. Soon, several areas of the basement had one to two inches of standing water, with damage concentrated in the utility storage room, bathrooms, youth room, nursery, and counting/admin room.
It was the kind of situation that can quickly become overwhelming. But because of his CRR training, Greg knew how to step in calmly and help bring order to the response.
“IRT training allowed me to respond soon after the call, perform a quick damage assessment to understand the scope of damage, and serve as point for efforts to stabilize the situation and coordinate volunteer cleanup efforts,” Greg shared.
The training gave him more than technical knowledge. It gave him a framework.
CRR’s Immediate Relief Team training helps volunteers understand the key roles needed in a disaster response, including operations, communications, and community liaison work. It also emphasizes volunteer safety, damage assessment, coordination, and knowing how to make the best use of the people and resources available.
For Greg, that framework mattered.
“The roles CRR breaks down — operations, community liaison, communications — and awareness of potential risk and safety issues to ensure volunteers went home safe and served effectively allowed me to confidently lead and mobilize those who responded to our pastor’s callout for help,” he said.
As volunteers began to arrive, Greg helped assess the damage, coordinate cleanup efforts, and keep the response focused. A neighbor provided a generator. Shop vacs were made available. Multiple waves of helpers came through, each with different ages, abilities, and skill levels. Fans and dehumidifiers from unaffected areas of the building were used to help remove moisture and limit further damage.
By God’s provision and the help of willing volunteers, the church was able to stabilize the situation and continue with uninterrupted service and ministry that weekend.
But Greg was quick to point out that the story was not about what he accomplished. It was about how training prepared him to serve when the need came.
“I mention it not to say, ‘look what I was able to do,’ but to say, ‘thank you to CRR for sharing a way for me to help others,’” Greg said.
That is exactly why CRR trains leaders before disaster strikes.
Not every crisis is a large-scale disaster. Sometimes it is a flooded church basement. Sometimes it is a neighborhood hit by storms. Sometimes it is a family, congregation, or community that needs someone calm, prepared, and ready to coordinate the people who show up willing to help.
As Greg put it, one of the key lessons from CRR’s training is that responders do not have to do everything themselves. Instead, they need to keep a higher-level view of the need and help coordinate willing volunteers so their time and effort can be used well.
That kind of leadership matters.
Because when crisis comes, communities need more than good intentions. They need trained people who know how to assess the situation, organize the response, protect volunteers, and serve effectively.
Greg’s story is a simple but powerful reminder: preparedness works. Training matters. And when ordinary people are equipped before the storm, they are ready to bring help, stability, and hope when it arrives.
Our Always Ready Fund helps us stay deployment ready and also funds our team member trainings – like the one where Greg learned how to lead his church through a time of crisis. Generous monthly donors help cover our operational expenses, equipment, and training so that 100% of funds raised during a disaster go to the affected communities. Become a sustaining partner today.