Tammy Cookson, who with her husband Dan and three teenage children evacuated their home in San Diego, told Baptist Press they've been staying at the Vision San Diego office for NAMB's Strategic Focus City initiative. The Cooksons serve as NAMB missionaries, and she said they wanted to help even though they're among those affected by the crisis.

"We felt like even though we had been evacuated, there are certainly people that are more in need than we are," Cookson said from PETCO Park. "It has been great to be out here. I think the kids have really felt like they're contributing to the efforts."

She and her children were cleaning the cambros, which hold hot meals for the disaster relief kitchen units set up at PETCO.

"Even though everything was so random and wild, we really felt everyone's prayers, and God has given us a sense of peace that no matter what happens, we're here to be a blessing to others," Cookson said. "We've lived here almost six years, and as far as we know, our home is still safe."

Simpson, the director of missions, said he wanted to commend Southern Baptists for the disaster relief network that was already in place before the first fire began.

"They're well-represented here in the middle of all this disaster," he said. "The unsaved and unchurched community will take note of who was here and who was prepared, and I think they will once again notice that Southern Baptists were right in the thick of all the action."

Erin Roach is a staff writer for Baptist Press; Mickey Noah is a writer for the North American Mission Board.
© Copyright 2007 Baptist Press. Used with permission.