Local church’s vision reaches across miles to flood victims
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Pictured is Keith Scheible, of Stonebridge Trucking, and his co-pilot Ron Rudd that were all smiles with Irma Rojas, of San Angelos, TX, that had made a vision and mission complete by helping the flood victims with 45,000 items delivered to San Angelos by Cedar Creek Community Church Flood Fund.
In July, the destructive and deadly flooding in Texas, left many individuals and families in distress, feeling like it was an endless battle to rebuild the communities. Deb Roark, Missions Director of Cedar Creek Community Church in Osgood had a vision to be able to help with the flood victims. She told the Osgood Journal, “It weighed on my mind for a few days and I just knew we had to do something. So, I went and met with my Pastor, Mark Shonk and discussed my vision.”
Cedar Creek Community Church started a flood fund drive. They reached out and 19 community churches joined them on their mission. Roark stated, “We were all under the same commitment-to help these people in need.”
Businesses, individuals and members of the church made the mission a success. Stonebridge Trucking was a huge asset to this flood drive. Shane Kennedy, CEO of Stonebridge Trucking, not only provided the truck to deliver the supplies, but also paid for the fuel, and room and board for the driver. Kennedy also approved a passenger to help wih navigating along the way. Keith Scheible, of Stonebridge Trucking, was the man in the hot seat to make the delivery happen. Ron Rudd, of North Vernon was his co-pilot. These two men have been friends for over 40 years and had an experience of a lifetime doing their first charity drive together.
Scheible stated to the Osgood Journal, “Stonebridge was number one in all of this, itcouldn’t have been done without them and everyone else involved. This blessed me so much that everyone came together to make this happen. Rudd concluded, “Keith was an amazing driver and I’m glad we got to do this together!”
Cedar Creek Community Church collected 45,000 items, packing 200 boxes to send to San Angelos, TX. Roark told the Osgood Journal, “It was just absolutely amazing. The success was overwhelming,” The church members and volunteers came to the church and packed everything up for delivery in five days and loaded the truck on Saturday, August 9. They had an assembly line going and had all the items loaded in about three hours.
On Sunday, August 10, everyone gathered aroundSheible and Rudd where prayer was offered for the journey. Rudd told the Osgood Journal, “We drove 2,379 miles round trip. It was 16 hours one way, we crossed through eight state lines in a little over three days roundtrip.”
When they arrived in San Angelos, happy faces and people jumped up and down greeted them at the delivery site. People came to help take the items off the truck and Rudd said, “They had everything off in like 45 minutes.” Teamwork made all this happen.
While packing at the church, Jennifer Rudd (Ron Rudd), of North Vernon, had brought in a box filled with stuffed animals, a Bible, and a blanket that she had prayed over each of the stuffed animals. She wanted to do something special for Skyler, a survivor of the flood, while she was at Camp Mystic. Jennifer wrote SPECIAL on the box. During the deliveries, Roark had spoken with Irma Rojas, who helped set up everything in San Angelos. She wanted to see if they could get the special box to Skyler. Within an hour after the call, the box was in route to her home. Roark said they have been told that Skyler had passed out the stuffed animals to her friends that had survived with her in the devastating flood in July.
Everyone in San Angelos was so grateful and thankful. There were open arms everywhere. Scheible stated, “It was an experience I wouldn’t have traded for anything.”
Cedar Creek Community Church would like to thank everyone who took part on this journey. Mission accomplished! Roark concluded with the Osgood Journal, “I had a vision then everyone joined together and made it happen. If God wants it to happen, it will happen and he opened the door to these people.”
