Information regarding the Nashville flood of May 1-2, 2010.
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Donations for Flood Relief |
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Written by Robert Bland
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Tuesday, 18 May 2010 |
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We have received many inquiries into how people can help with flood relief. Financial gifts for flood relief purposes can be made to the "Bellevue UMC Flood Relief Fund." Gifts can also be made to the United Methodist Committee on Relief "US Disaster Response Fund" #901670. This denominational fund is used to aid the clean up in Tennessee and in other areas affected by spring storms and tornados. To donate money to either of these funds you may personally deliver the money to the church during normal business hours or by placing the money in the offering plate during our worship service on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. You may also mail your check to the church (please no cash through the mail); be sure to write "BUMC Flood Relief Fund" in the memo area of your check and address the envelope to BUMC Flood Relief Fund
Attn: Financial Secretary
7501 Old Harding Pike
Nashville, TN 37221
Finally, you may also use your bank's bill pay features from its website. This is an easy and convenient way to send a check to the church when you're not at home or not close to the church. You can use the address above to send your checks through bill pay or simply use the regular address of the church as "Bellevue United Methodist Church" instead of the relief fund. Please be sure that you add a memo to the payment that identifies the payment as going to the BUMC Flood Relief Fund. Non-monetary gifts may also be donated to the church. There are a number of people in the community that are in need of everything from clothes to food to furniture. If you have items that you are willing to donate to victims of the flood then please email
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to learn what is needed and what to do with the items you're willing to donate. Finally, the gift of your time is also needed in various ways. There are still some individuals that are needing help with the teardown of the affected areas of their homes. As we progress over the next few weeks and months there will also be a need for people to hang drywall, install cabinets, paint, and many other construction activities. We also have people with needs as simple as mowing a yard (b.y.o.l.m. - bring your own lawn mower since many people's lawn mowers were lost in the flood)! Again, please email
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if you are willing to donate your time to those in need. Thank you to all of those that have already given their time, money, or things to help the many, many flood victims in the Nashville community. Our church family and our community are blessed to have such wonderful people in our midst! |
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Pastoral Letter Following the May 1-2 Flood |
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Written by David Rainey
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Tuesday, 18 May 2010 |
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. - Isaiah 43
Some of you have heard me mention the words of a fellow pastor after the Nashville tornados of 1998. Some asked her where God was, why their sanctuary had been destroyed, and other troubling questions. She said she did not believe that God was in the storm, but she did believe that God had been clearly present in the response to the storm – the love, compassion, and generosity of so many, the strength and comfort received to cope. I pray that will also be your experience and your witness in the days to come!
As some of you know first hand, members of our congregation lost much in the flood. The numbers keep changing, but it appears that some 40 homes received significant damage. In addition, the businesses of members and many others in the general community were also damaged. While we are thankful that there was no loss of life in our church family, we are aware that neighbors have died and there have been many traumatic experiences. Even after property has been cleaned up, we can expect a long period of grieving and healing. There is no way around that, but by God's grace we believe there will be a way through it.
Our response as a congregation since May 1 has gone through several phases:
We were initially in a shelter mode. The extreme nature of the crisis began to be clear as people started showing up at the church door, wet and overwhelmed, having just fled from their homes. We had some people and pets at the church for a few hours, some over night. We were not officially activated as a Red Cross shelter, but we did have people spend the night through May 3. Some of our members who were nearby and available came and helped us set up our Room in the Inn cots, get food together, wash and dry clothes. Afghans from the sanctuary and prayer shawls from Common Threads were put into service. (Marc and Jean Lyon were on duty as trained Red Cross volunteers at the Jewish Community Center, which was activated as a Red Cross shelter.)
As soon as possible we began to try to locate people in our congregation and determine their needs. This was not easy. For several days water blocked major roads. The phone system was down for much of the area and cell phone connections were unpredictable. The church, however, had both phone and internet. While we could not reach many people in Bellevue, people stranded here could at least call out and reach some people beyond the area. On the evening of May 5 we offered a "Service of Comfort" in the sanctuary.
By midweek we were able to move into a new phase – matching needs with people able to provide help. Much thanks to Gina Bland, Janie Hershey, and Debi Tyree for their excellent organizational work! All of this was in high gear on Saturday, May 8.
From the beginning we have been strongly supported by our denomination on all levels. Our District Superintendent John Collett and others brought us "flood buckets" – 5 gallon plastic buckets filled with clean up supplies, assembled by other United Methodists for just this purpose. We have also received supportive visits from Bishop Dick Wills, and from Christy Smith of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Jason Brock, the conference disaster coordinator, has been here and will continue to be very helpful in the days to come. I am more grateful than ever for our United Methodist Church! They have a wide area of need to reach out to, given the scope of the flooding. Please keep them in your prayers.
The May 8 work day was truly amazing! We had 100 registered volunteers who went out to homes. Others were involved in food preparation, giving out flood buckets, child care, and other ways. Our children, youth, and college students have been very involved from the beginning.
These statistics through May 9:
1000 lunches made and delivered in the neighborhoods
500 "flood buckets" received and given out
29 homes had immediate needs addressed, such as the removing of drywall, etc. and await the next phase.
We have extended care into 5 different neighborhoods
We have provided a staging place for several other churches and organizations.
The statistics are constantly changing. We are thankful to have received generous gifts from several businesses and individuals as well as other churches to help us in this work. Businesses throughout Nashville have done much to help in this time of shared crisis. Government on all levels has also been responsive.
Please know how very proud I am of you as a congregation! You have truly been the church! It's been a time of great loss, but also a time of great love!
What's next?
For everyone's health, it's critical to take a time of Sabbath rest for all who can. This is really important. We have run a sprint, but we are in for a marathon. Please rest, for yourself and for the sake of others.
Financial gifts for flood relief purposes can be made to the "Bellevue UMC Flood Relief Fund." Gifts can also be made to the United Methodist Committee on Relief "US Disaster Response Fund" #901670. This denominational fund is used to aid the clean up in Tennessee and in other areas affected by spring storms and tornados.
(Check the UMCOR Hotline on line to see more about the United Methodist response in Tennessee and beyond.)
Those of us who are able need to keep up our regular offerings to the church as well. It is because of your regular gifts over the years that BUMC was here as a safe place on May 2. We have to keep going in order to keep serving in the long recovery period ahead.
As we move forward several things:
1) Please make sure we have current information on you and your family – how we can reach you. Cell phone numbers help. We need current emails, cell phones, & work phone numbers. Fill out one of our contact forms. Send the information to
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2) If you are among those who have had damage, let us know if there are ways we can be helpful. Be specific as possible about what and when.
3) If you have ways you can be helpful to others, let us know how. Not everyone can tear out drywall and the needs keep changing. Perhaps you can offer transportation to the doctor, shopping, that kind of thing.
4) We need people to help us keep in touch with members who have had loss. This can be done by phone or by direct visits.
5) We need for each other to be safe. Pay attention to you own health - all the advice about gloves, masks, etc.
6) Pay attention to you own emotional health and spiritual health! All his may affect you in ways you haven't imagined. Be sure to talk with others and seek help. Pray for yourself as well as others that you might be aware daily of God's presence and comfort, and that you might receive your "daily bread."
Thank you for all the ways you are being the church of Jesus Christ! Thanks be to our Lord who shares our suffering and leads us through it to the victory of life and love.
Pastor David Rainey |
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Written by Debi Tyree
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Tuesday, 18 May 2010 |
Friends,
In the weeks ahead, we will continue to gather information about services that are available to help those that have been impacted by the flood. In order to try to coordinate help as we can, please continue to use
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as your way of communicating your needs to us.
If you hear of a need from someone who does not have email access, please offer to get their information and to email it for them. As always, we need as much information as possible in advance: names, email, cell & landline #'s, address, and what the need or concern is. Please share with everyone that it may take a few days to get back with them as many of our volunteers work full-time jobs and we have to coordinate any assistance with their schedule.
PLEASE NOTE: You do NOT have to call or email anyone or have any "permission" to take a flood bucket or any other cleaning supply to someone in need. Just stop by the church and pick up what you/they need. The supplies are in the choir room. We need you to offer to get them for persons who are still cleaning up.
We are aware that many persons want to jump back into rebuilding. We will be contacting the Conference Disaster Coordinator in the weeks ahead to see what information we can pass on about Volunteer In Mission (VIM) teams that may be coming into the Bellevue area later on. As you know, all of the reconstruction needs to be done safely and with the required certificates as well as meeting code and inspection requirements. This is important as your realtor will ask for copies of the certificates, etc., when you decide to sell the home, even if it is 10 years from now. It will be worth the time it takes to do it right the first time. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 18 May 2010 )
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Written by Robert Bland
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Monday, 17 May 2010 |
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The Nashville Department of Codes and Building Safety put together this great document that contains lots of great information on what needs to be done to repair homes, get building permits, and other things related to repairing flood damaged homes. If you're wondering what you need to do to get your repairs completed then please download and read the linked document . Please note, you will need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed in order to open the document. You can download the free reader from Adobe's website . |
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FLOOD INFORMATION 