WS Chronicle

During his two years as president of the Ministers’ Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity (MCWSV), Rev. Dr. Lamonte Williams was able to perfect his plan of action for disaster relief support.

While president of the MCWSV, Williams had the ability to implement his disaster relief plan on three separate occasions.  For his efforts, during his appreciation banquet, The City of Winston-Salem and the office of the mayor proclaimed Dec. 8, Humanitarian Disaster Relief Day.  The proclamation also honored Williams as a Humanitarian Disaster Relief Specialist.

Williams collaborated with many people and organizations to coordinate relief trips to Houston, Texas and eastern North Carolina following Hurricane Harvey and Florence.  Williams was very appreciative to the community partners that assisted him in not only the organizing of the relief efforts, but also the execution.

“What it really just spoke to was the level of community collaboration that it takes to make a project really successful,” said Williams of the partnerships he has built over the last two years.

“The proclamation just summarized all of the work that we, as a community, have done.  I say as a community, because it took all of us.  There is no way I could have gotten on that bus by myself and there is no way I could have affected all of those churches in Texas or eastern North Carolina.”

Williams said he was “grateful” to have played a leadership role in those efforts, but gives a lot of the credit to the volunteers, clergy and community partners.

Seeing how successful his plan of action was in those relief efforts, Williams wants to try and take his model to a more national level.  He feels his model would work during any national disaster, in any part of the country and wants to share that with the proper groups.

“My next step is, how can I replicate this on a more national level to be able to help people across the country with disaster relief,” he said.  “To me, receiving a proclamation like this says that my labor has not been in vain and I want to share that with others.”

When he watched the devastation going on during Hurricane Harvey, Williams says he was compelled to find a way to help those in need.  Harvey was the inspiration he needed to begin formulating his plan of action and it manifested from there.  He was able to fine tune his model during his three relief efforts.

“If you are a born leader, there is something inside of you that says you can’t be quiet,” he continued.  “If you are a born leader, there is something inside of you that says, while others are willing to follow, you are willing to step up and provide leadership.

“For me, when I heard about the entire state of Texas being affected, but more importantly Houston, I thought ‘If not me, who, if not now, when and if not there, where?’  What I want to really emphasize is, when you have that inherent calling on the inside, it’s almost impossible not to answer it.”

Moving forward, Williams wants the city to know that if a disaster does hit the city, he wants to be “at the table” as far as planning, executing and implementation.  Williams stated he is speaking with officials from FEMA about the possibility of sharing his model as well.