My heart is breaking with news of the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and Tennessee, and I am moved by the videos put out by Bear Independent on YouTube about the outreach currently being performed by Grindstone Ministries under his leadership.
I encountered Bear Independent (TJ Morris) on YouTube some time ago, and was intrigued by his personal story, and by his multiple ministries. Most of us want to make a difference. Bear is ACTUALLY doing it. Under his umbrella ministry www.BearIndependent.com, he provides quality YouTube videos on emergency preparedness, medical training, and current events. He even reads the Bible on camera. Bear leads three ministry teams under this umbrella: Refuge Medical, Kaleb House, and Grindstone Ministries, each of which is making a profound difference.
www.RefugeMedical.com offers high level first aid training, focusing on trauma medicine-- what a first responder might need to help car crash or shooting victims, for example. Refuge medical also makes high quality personal and specialty Trauma First Aid Kits. My Sam's Club first aid kit came with antiseptic wipes, assorted band aids, some gauze, medical tape, and a tiny pair of scissors. In contrast, the "Bear Minimum 2.0" individual first aid kit I ordered from Refuge Medical comes with a CAT tourniquet, trauma shears, HALO chest seals (2 pack), 6" emergency trauma dressing, compressed gauze, gloves, permanent marker, medical tape, eye shield, eye pad, multiple types of gauze pads and rolled gauze, band aids, burn gel, triple antibiotics, and antiseptic wipes (among other things.) Their kits are so good, that they are heavily used by US military in the special forces community because they are better than standard issue options.
www.KalebHouse.org Has been helping multiple families recover from child sex trafficking through providing counseling and a physical safe space to live, and their investigative teams work with law enforcement ton rescue trafficked children and bring perpetrators to justice.
www.GrindstoneMinistries.com applies action to pain. Not just, "I will pray for you," but rather, "let me help you with that." Grindstone volunteers deploy to disaster hot spots to physically help people. They are on their 46th deployment right now to eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina to help victims of Hurricane Helene. The State of Tennessee has given them jurisdiction in three counties, where they are doing search and rescue, medical care, and taking care of 5,000 refugees. They need food, water, equipment and volunteers. Are you noticing a shortage of bottled water at your grocery store? They need 10,000 CASES of water a day. Search teams have made it to less than half of the areas due to downed trees, and are finding bodies 30' to 50' up in trees. They need the following volunteers for 7-10 day rotations:
Logistics Personnel
Saw teams
Medical Personnel
Heavy Equipment Operators
Truck Drivers
Search and Rescue Personnel
Communications Experts
Community Liaisons
General Laborers
Handlers with cadaver dogs
Equipment Needed:
tracked skid steers with grapples, mini excavators with thumbs, off-road forklifts
side by side UTVs and 4x4 pickup trucks
box trucks and flatbed trucks
power generation equipment
bulk fuel, tanks, and fueling equipment.
Email admin@grindstoneministries.com or call (918) 974-5510 to schedule. Their FOB (Forward Operating Base) is
104 Cherry Grove Rd.
Jonesboro, TN 37659
Want to donate? https://give-usa.keela.co/gsm-donation-form Anyone here enjoy adventure travel? This is your opportunity to go camping the old fashioned way-- with no cell services or electricity, and where you bring your own food and water. Only this time, you get to help your fellow Americans who never expected to be hurricane survivors this far from the coast. 'Want to make a real difference? Try Adventure Travel with Bear! Take a working vacation to the beautiful mountains of eastern Tennessee.
Maybe I'll see you there.
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