Central Texas disaster response team ready to help communities hit by Hurricane Beryl

BELTON, Texas (KWTX) - The Central Texas Christian Disaster Response Team, CTCDRT, is on standby Monday morning as the group plans to travel down to Southeast Texas to help communities hit by Hurricane Beryl.

“What we want to do when we get there is to give them help, hope, and healing, and to be the hands and feet of Jesus,” Monica McDougall, who is the leader of the Shower Laundry Unit for CTCDRT, said. “We’re not there to get jobs done. We’re there to love on them and help them through this disaster, and washing clothes and cutting trees, and feeding them is just the offset of it.”

CTCDRT is based out of Belton and operates under the direction of Texans on Mission. The group is planning to take its shower laundry trailer to the coastal communities impacted by the storm as early as Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning.

The trailer has four showers and washers and dryers as well as shampoo, body wash and the essentials.

The group has been preparing all of its units since it found out Hurricane Beryl could hit the Texas Gulf Coast last week.

“If we know a storm’s brewing, then we start preparing and knowing that we might be deployed,” McDougall said. “We make sure all our equipment’s ready to go, and then we have all the supplies we’re going to need if we’re going. Then, we just pray and wait to see where we’re going.”

McDougall said the group has multiple units on standby waiting to be notified by Texans on Mission for deployment.

“If our feeding team is going to deploy, then they’ll be getting additional equipment and supplies ready to take if they’re going,” she said.

Most of the supplies they bring to disaster areas are donated. She said they have an Amazon Wishlist and use a lot of grocery store gift cards to purchase supplies. She said Texans on Mission helps with supplies as well.

The group based out of Belton has 600 volunteers from across the state.

“There are people that have worked with us in the past when we deployed,” she said. “They’re parts of our feeding team, our shower laundry team. Here, in Central Texas, we have a lot of assessors and chaplains that are trained, so they’ll be going with the instant command team. Wherever your desire is to plug in is where you have the opportunity.”

Right now, the shower laundry unit is packed and waiting for their call to serve.

“The waiting can get cumbersome,” McDougall said. “You have all your stuff ready. In our case, most of us are retired, so most of us are on medication. We have all our meds packed, make sure we’ve got everything we need. If we need to be gone for two weeks, three weeks.”

Their most recent disaster response efforts were for the Temple tornado more than a month ago. They worked there for 20 days.

Now, they are ready to serve as long as needed, hoping to help as many people as possible.

CTCDRT asks the community for prayers, and if you are interested in donating, you can click here.

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