Friday, May 20, 2011

Quick update...

... Sorry it has been a while since I last posted.  Things have been very busy in our area.  Everything is more organized now than it was in the first few days following the tornadoes, of course, and we hope the death count has ceased to climb.   The areas have been inundated with wonderful volunteers and the donations of supplies is staggering.  The generosity of the human spirit never ceases to amaze me.

E was able to keep the emergency radio station running for several days, much to the delight of the residents and volunteers.  He was able to use a travel trailer which belonged to Florence City FD, which we very much appreciated.  His informative radio broadcasts helped reunite several families with loved ones with whom they'd had no contact since the storms.  This touched him deeply and - I suspect - changed him forever.   The newspaper which serves The Shoals area did a nice story on him (although they did manage to get some of the facts wrong :-).

The clean-up continues.  The rebuilding is beginning.  The towns seem to be entering a state of recovery and are beginning to come to grips with the enormity of the damage done by these storms.  Volunteers continue to come into the areas, including a wonderful group of Mennonite and Amish who have traveled to the area from Pennsylvania.  It is simply amazing what human beings can do when we work together in the service of others.

3 comments:

Jim and Sandie said...

Really glad to hear from you. The recovery is going to take a really long time and now we have all the flooding along the Mississippi. Such tragedy - and yet it can bring out the very best in people and definitely change lives forever. Thanks for the update.

Donna McNicol said...

So good to see an update from you!!

Kerri said...

@ Sandie - Thank you! The flooding is such a tragedy - I can't imagine the fear one must feel in that situation. My prayers are with those affected.

@ Donna - Thank you! I still haven't taken the time to put into practice the photo tips you so generously gave me, but I will. It is on my to-do list, which seems to grow exponentially overnight! Wonder how that happens??? :-)