North Carolina Hurricane Recovery Sites Identified, Volunteers Ready

Less than 24 hours after Irene crashed ashore on North Carolina's coast, North Carolina Baptist Men (NCBM) staff and volunteers were already mapping out a plan of action, Baptist Press reports. Richard Brunson, NCBM executive director, said the hardest-hit areas in the state appear to be near Pamlico Sound, Carteret County and the Outer Banks. Trained NCBM assessors have been on the ground since Saturday night and early Sunday morning surveying the damage and helping identify the greatest needs. NCBM will set up feeding/recovery units at several local churches, and set up its state recovery unit at The Memorial Baptist Church in Greenville. Those units were slated to be ready for feeding by Monday. Brunson expects to feed about 5,000 meals per day at each of the sites. "It is too early at this point to know how long the feeding units will be needed," Brunson said. "We expect at least a week. How soon people are able to get power back to their homes will play a large part in determining that. However, we expect the recovery process to be much longer."