TBDR coordinator, Johnson City
Tina Golden works at her laptop at the Incident Command post at Grace Baptist Church in Elizabethton.
JOHNSON CITY — Having served with Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief for almost a decade, Tina Golden has “been around the block” more than a few times.
But even with her years of experience, Golden said the recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene have been some of the most extensive, and most challenging, that she’s ever been through.
Golden is currently serving as the coordinator for the DR teams in Johnson City.
She’s been stationed there since last September, when excessive rains, remnants of Hurricane Helene, caused rarely-before-seen amounts of flooding, washing out bridges, destroying homes and leading to at least 18 deaths in the Tri-Cities region.
Since then, Golden has spent her days coordinating a seemingly countless number of work orders in the area, connecting the right teams with the right needs. “I think the only thing that has been close to this (in terms of time and work orders) is the Waverly recovery,” said Golden.
She was referring to the flooding that besieged the city of Waverly and the surrounding areas in 2021, bringing a record-breaking 17 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. The flooding resulted in 22 deaths and millions of dollars in damage to roads, homes and buildings.
TBDR arrived quickly after the storm and spent months completing recovery projects in the area. That has been the case again in Johnson City, where DR teams have been coming and going for months, helping families piece their lives back together.
Golden, who lives in Strawberry Plains, runs the Incident Command post at Grace Baptist Church.
“The DR teams who arrived first were the recovery teams, and then we transitioned to rebuild,” she said.
The first several weeks were the busiest, naturally, with Golden helping coordinate job orders and sending DR teams to various locations throughout the region. Now, a year later, Golden’s duties are slightly-less frantic in nature, but remain steady — and vital to the operation.
“It’s still about the same, to be honest,” she said. “And there’s no way to know how long we’ll be here. We definitely need teams to keep coming because there is still plenty to be done.”
For her part, Golden fulfills a variety of assignments that go beyond coordinating the teams.
Several times throughout her “work” week, she will be asked to go to various stores to purchase items that the teams need for their projects.
She also helps coordinate the meals — including small details, such as making sure silverware is available — for the volunteers. Sometimes, when needed, she will do a load or two of laundry for the teams.
Golden’s main role each day, in a nutshell, is helping those in need to get connected with the right people. But she doesn’t stop there.
“I always have a prayer with them before I get off the phone,” she said, noting that she wants them to know the reason that DR is doing what they are doing is to share God’s love.
