shock and devastation

Sorry I've been out of the blogging loop, but there has been some major things happening in our area, and I'm focusing all my extra attention on these issues. A week ago last Wednesday our little rural area was devastated by the longest running tornado on the ground in U.S. history. The death toll continues to rise and many people have missing family members, and/or have lost all of their worldly possessions due to this horrible EF-4 tornado.  At this time there have been 355+ deaths, and 100’s reported missing. The National Guard has sent out search teams to look for missing residents within the rubble. The Red Cross has triage centers set up to treat injured residents and shelters for people who are now homeless. Almost a week later the Red Cross is still housing 80+ families.  My family was very lucky to be in small area of the region that was for the most part, sheltered from the storm. All of our neighboring cities took a hard hit, and most schools and business have been out of operation. Our county will resume school tomorrow, but other counties will be forced to rebuild their schools. Ringgold, Ga (better known as the hometown of American Idol star Lauren Elena) is about 15 minutes north of where I live, and the whole town is in complete shambles. All of the roads are blocked, including the interstate, in exception to emergency personnel. Friday morning the National Guard bussed in families to survey their losses, the view was devastating.

photo credit

photo credit

photo credit

Friday after the storm I immediately wanted to try to help the tornado victims. The area was in such shambles that the city deemed the roads unsafe for volunteers. I checked in with our local mission to see what I could do to help. Although most of our city residents were not affected, the areas of mass destruction where so close to our town that the Red Cross and the United Way are referring Ringgold residents to our county food banks and relief resources. We will continue to serve victims until the food banks in Ringgold are rebuilt. This is putting a huge strain on the budget of our mission, who will be serving the tornado victim in addition to the 4,400+ families they already serve each year. The need will extend far beyond the immediate assistance that the Red Cross and relief programs can offer. The need will grow in coming weeks as families move from shelters, back in to their temporary homes and need to restock their life. The tornado hit an area that was already struggling immensely economically, and that’s sure to make the recovery process even harder for victims. I hope that the community will support our relief services to help get our sister cities back on their feet again. If you are not from our area, you can learn more about the storm, and how you can help by visiting this website: Click here to help!