Hendersonville, Tenn.—Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers received two of the 12 national awards for their service with the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief.

The awards were presented to the surprised volunteers during an award banquet at the National Roundtable, the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief meeting of all state convention DR, NAMB DR, and Baptist Global Response DR leadership in Hendersonville, Tenn. on Jan. 27.

The Kentucky recipients were Keith Stinson and Karen Smith.

“The dedication and compassion shown by these volunteers is a great witness of the love of Jesus Christ,” said Coy Webb, Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief director.

“We are pleased to have them represent our more than 5,000 disaster relief volunteers across the state, each willing to drop everything and help hurting people at a moment’s notice,” he added.

Stinson, a member of First Baptist Church of Richmond, received a Distinguished Service Award for his work in 2015 disaster responses. He was one of seven award winners. Stinson has been serving with Kentucky Baptist DR for more than 10 years.

“There are a lot of great people who work with disaster relief all over the country, all different states. They’re very generous with their time and energy,” Stinson said. “It was humbling to receive (the award).”

Smith, a member of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Shepherdsville, received the Phillips Award, an MVP-type award for Southern Baptist Disaster Relief that recognizes an individual who exemplifies Christ during crisis and their service to others. She was one of three to be recognized.

“It’s an honor to be awarded this, because it came through your peers,” said Smith, who also shared her passion for feeding people through disaster relief efforts.

Smith has been serving with DR for about 20 years. She is a feeding leader on the state leadership team, was a member of a medical and children’s trauma team in Iraq, and was a key leader in flood response to Eastern Kentucky.

“None of us do any of this work for any kind of recognition or awards,” Smith commented.

“That award is for every disaster relief worker in the whole commonwealth of Kentucky,” she said. “We are only as good as our leader (Coy Webb), and the people who surround us.”

Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief consists of over 7,000 trained volunteers. DR teams respond in times of crisis to help remove debris and mud from homes after floods, provides food via feeding trucks, and a host of other services. They are part of more than 65,000 Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers.

For more information on how to get involved with KYDR, email dr@kybaptist.org or call (502) 489-3401. (WR)