Caribou Bible ministers in North Carolina

By Karen L. Willoughby

SODA SPRINGS, Idaho – What do you get when you cross a wild notion,  two longtime friends, and a labradoodle? – A long road trip.

Add prayer and you have ministry!

“I do construction,” David Meek told UI Connections. He’s a member at Caribou (Southern Baptist) Bible Church in Soda Springs, Idaho. “I was just starting my own company. Aaron called me and he’s like, ‘God laid it on my heart today that I have excess and should help these people in North Carolina. What do you have going on the next two weeks?’ I spent a couple days praying about it, and called Aaron back, and said, ‘Let’s go!’”

It was early October, just days after a thousand-year flood resulting from Hurricane Helene ravaged North Carolina’s mountainous western region. People lived miles up what they called “hollows,” wide patches near cascading streams where for hundreds of years people had built their homes and carved out small acreages.

Aaron – last name Garland – is a member of the non-denominational Harvest Community Church in Plains, on the Clark River in northwest Montana.

“They were already stacking donations,” Meek said, referring to Harvest Community Church members. “Aaron’s church rallied up, talked with local business owners, and we talked with people here in Idaho. We were able to take food, clothing, shoes, cleaning supplies, water, diapers, construction supplies, and tools. We filled Aaron’s trailer to the top and overweight.”

Jules, a 3-month-old Labradoodle-Great Pyrenees-Mastiff mix, joined the two men Oct. 13 in what became a four-day, cross-country trip aboard a 2013 black Ford F350 pickup hauling a 22-foot covered trailer.

“We took off not really getting connected with any organization,” Meek said. “We did have a little bit of snow, little bit of treacherous roads, winding roads in North Carolina. We took back roads, looking for places that wanted our donations, and did some dodging where debris was blocking the road, or the road was washed out.

“We did work for a few days, helping where we could,” Meek said. “Chain saw work, getting trees off houses. Nobody wanted donations. Aaron says, ‘What are going to do with all this?’ We prayed and not five minutes later we saw a sign: ‘Donations.’ We drove down back roads until we found Ridgeline Heating and Cooling in Bill’s Creek, southeast of Asheville. Andrew Veigel had emptied his business to be able to pass out donations to people who needed them, and he said he was glad to get more. He had about run out.”

Meek and Garland helped put boxes of essentials together for families. The boxes included toilet paper, baby wipes, food, a Bible, blankets, and more.

“It was a pretty neat collaboration of people coming together, helping each other even when they needed help,” Meek said. “People cooking outside. Somehow, it was a good time for everyone, kind of hope for people in shock from what nature had done.”

With time fruitlessly lost looking for people who wanted donations, until they found the place where God had sent them, the men took just a day and a half to get home, “38 hours straight the second day,” Meek said. “And on the way back we had a broken leaf spring on the trailer we had to fix.”

Nonetheless, without a plan but with the urging of God, both men said they were blessed to have been of use to God.

“I think it was definitely worth going,” Meek said. “We got to help people out, got to talk to people, gave them Bibles. I think it was worthwhile.”

Garland added, “It was put on my heart during worship one morning. At first it didn’t seem there was much need for donations or help, but we decided to keep on driving. We decided to follow that sign, and it turned out what we had in the trailer was pretty much what they needed.

“I’d like to return, but it would be to help, not take donations,” Garland continued. “They’re needing tiny homes now.”

Hope has been growing in western North Carolina. The state of North Carolina recently gave North Carolina’s Baptists on Mission disaster relief group $3 million to assist with ongoing rebuild efforts in western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene, N.C. Gov. Josh Stein announced on Friday, Jan. 31.

“The money will help them purchase building materials that their volunteers can then install to help homeowners get back into their properties as quickly as possible in a safe, habitable condition,” Stein said in a Baptist Press article on Feb. 3.

Baptists on Mission officials have established seven centers across western North Carolina that can house volunteers and will serve as bases of operation for long-term rebuild efforts throughout the region. Baptists on Mission officials have committed to rebuilding 1,000 homes in western North Carolina over the next four to six years.

Licensed trade professionals, experienced construction workers and willing unskilled laborers are needed, NCBOM leaders say.