Volunteers from Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief spent most of January helping downstate neighbors recover from a massive snow and ice storm. The state’s southernmost counties were covered in two-thirds of an inch of ice that brought down tree limbs and knocked out power to a reported 60,000 customers during an early-January storm.
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As conditions became safe for them to work, IBDR began responding to requests to remove downed trees and tree limbs from homes and yards following the storm. Teams were nearly overwhelmed with 387 total requests. There were so many, that at one point, IBDR had to stop accepting new work requests.
At least 95 IBDR volunteers were involved in the efforts, which resulted in two salvations decisions by homeowners. “This is our reason for going,” said state coordinator Arnold Ramage.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Lisa Misner and originally published by the Illinois Baptist.