When Trees Fall, They Haul - SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOS

For 20 years now the disaster response team at St. Marks United Methodist Church headed up by Paul Givens has been cutting and removing trees for victims of disasters. Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and ice storms strike all over the southeast each year. This well equipped team loads up their gear and heads into ground zero to offer their assistance at no cost.

Hurricane Michael was no exception. Not long after returning from North Carolina where the team cleared trees for Florence victims, they were headed southbound. The St. Marks team was joined by the disaster response team from Cookeville First United Methodist and volunteers from First Methodist Murfreesboro.

"We started seeing damage around the Alabama border and it just kept getting worse" says volunteer Josh Markham. "For 90 miles all we saw was broken trees and damaged houses."

The teams were based at the First United Methodist Church in Apalachicola, FL. Power and water had been restored to that area so it worked well for them to set up shop there. In the 6 days they were there, they removed trees on 26 properties, many of which were resting on houses or garages.

"The first step in rebuilding is to get the tree out of the way. Many insurance policies have limited coverage for this. Several homeowners didn't have any coverage at all for trees. Business will flock to the area charging $1800 or more per tree which is not a possibility for many people."

This ministry fueled by volunteers and their churches were able to help a lot of people get started on the rebuilding of their homes and they are not done. They will return to the area on Oct. 30th for another week of clearing properties for those in need.

"In addition to the devastation in the area, one of the saddest things I heard about were 2 people dying while removing trees off of their houses. They did not have the proper equipment or experience but were just trying to get them removed. If only they knew we were there and could have helped them."

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