Individual Volunteers Trained for Service in the Gulf Coast Area

Eleven eager and ready "newbees" met at Camp Canyon in Hinton, Oklahoma, on August 18-20, 2006 for orientation and training in preparation for being sent as Individual Volunteers for Global Ministries.

Camp Canyon, Hinton, Oklahoma 2006 Individual Volunteer Orientation group photo

Back row, left to right: Clint Rabb, Mary Bollow, Andy Henson, Carroll Green, Cindy Ellenberger, and David Focht. Center row: Betty Whitehurst, Leah Vanstone, Barbara Stone, Martha Girling, and Lorna Jost. Kneeling: Fred Bollow, Bill Vanstone, Tyler Schooley, and Dorothy Green.

Prior to the regular training, Barbara Stone (SCJ UMVIM Coordinator) led several of this group through a special session on being host coordinators at a disaster site. Helping Barbara in the training were Joe and Shirley Edgerton of Baldwin, KS, who spoke of their experiences as host site coordinators.

Barbara, Mary and Fred

These volunteers will be used for one to two months at a time in the Gulf Coast area now and will be able to use these skills for years to come in any new disaster situation.

Prospective Individual Volunteers attending the training traveled from Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa.

Andy and Tyler in class

Betty Whitehurst came out of "retirement" and added her wonderful touch to the weekend. This was Clint Rabb's (new Assistant Secretary for Mission Volunteers) first experience with a group of Individual Volunteers and we welcomed him with open arms! Clint's experiences in the field taught invaluable lessons to this group.