A Report by Lee Brewer, FBC Red Bank The answer is the 17 young men and women who drove from Ohio’s University of Cincinnati campus to Red Bank, New Jersey. They came to do their share to help families recover and rebuild our Union Beach area. 2 skilled volunteer contractors from the FBC Red Bank congregation helped and watched over them to assure that these young people were able to deliver quality work. Together they became known as the “Hope Team”. Pastor Ty Choate and the men and women of First Baptist Church of Red Bank's hospitality and food teams housed them, and fed them. One evening meal included all of the church welcoming them. Another was a pizza party with the Youth group of First Baptist. The final dinner included the entire church saying goodbye to them. In all, the First Baptist Red Bank family provided more than 240 dinners and 115 bag lunches and breakfasts to our Ohio volunteer work team. They were great. We did not know them before they arrived, but they were our good friends when they left.

The UC men and women are in a Baptist campus organization led to New Jersey by Ken Dillard. They gave up their Spring break to help in our community by building and rebuilding, and just giving hope to families in need. They hauled, installed, spackled, painted and cleaned up in our Union Beach area. Union Beach residents have been courageous and there still are many challenges ahead for them. That is why Red Bank’s First Baptist Church will host 2 or 3 more working groups during the next 6 months –Our target is to continue to help families in our Union Beach area. For more information or how you can help go to www.fbcredbank.com - For lots of pictures of the Hope Team go to First Baptist Church of Red Bank on Facebook.