This week I had the opportunity to travel to Alabama and help set up Tornado Response Trips with AIM, which will begin this week. We spent the majority of our time in Rainsville, where we met Israel Partridge of True Adventure Sports (left), and his friends, Jonathan Roberts, (right), and Chris Patterson (center). All three men live in the area hit by the storm. Thankfully, their homes and families were saved.
These three men of God are committed to serving in their community and helping people process and heal from this disaster. Please pray for them, their teams, and for those they are helping recover. Below are some of the stories we heard while in Rainsville. I will post stories about Tuscaloosa and Pell City later this week.
The Huddle House
On April 27, 2011, after the worst of the storm seemed to have passed, people began to move around again. They got in their cars and headed out… some, after holing up to ride out the storm, headed home. Some stopped at this Huddle House.
An hour later, the restaurant looked like this.
The tornado rode off the mountain and dropped onto the highway, destroying a high school stadium, a Huddle House, and anything else in its path – trees, homes, and people.
Search and Rescue found 25 bodies in the rubble, but judging by the cars in the parking lot, officials estimate at least 18 other people were in the restaurant at the time. Relief workers have been advised to watch for circling birds to signal the location of more bodies.
Now just shards of glass, twisted metal, discarded ketchup bottles- a shell missing its roof and walls. The details of life still remain- a clock stopped by the force of the tornado at the time it struck; a handful of brightly colored stuffed animals carried by the wind from somewhere far away and scattered amongst the broken cinderblock. The storage room, the soda fountain ripped in half–a menu trapped under a metal beams.
As far as they know, all were lost- and it's possible there are more in the rubble, their graves marked by a clock still attached to a wall, standing silently where they fell.
Rainsville's current death toll is 43. Of that number 25 of those people lost their lives in this location on April 27, 2011.
Want to help the people of Rainsville? Here's something you need to know:
Culturally, the people of this area are distrustful. They've been let down many times, sometimes by family, sometimes by church. Family feuds stretch back into time for generations – fights over property, wealth, and private family heirlooms. Some churches are divided by denomination, choosing to go it alone instead of choosing to rebuild their community together. There are even those looking to profit from this tragedy by going to churches, signing up to volunteer, receiving "official" church T-shirts, casing homes to see where valuables are, and then returning to take what little is left.
Up on the mountain, there are signs saying, "Keep out," "Stay Out", and "You steal here, you die here."
Grieving from their losses, trying to find some semblance of the lives they used to have, and worried that anyone coming to help could also hurt them, it takes more than just the willingness to serve to be welcomed onto their property. It takes relationship- people taking the time to show they care about the victims of the tornadoes.
The relief effort is slow, but it continues. After days of braving the elements, excavating lifeless victims, and clearing brush from around roads and homes, helping the newly homeless pick through what possessions are left- relief workers are in desperate need of supplies, manpower, and energy. Everyday, they help people. They distribute food and supplies, help clear homes, move downed trees, and help people find whatever scattered pieces of their lives remain.
This is where Adventures in Missions comes in. We have people who want to serve and the availability to send teams. Together, partnering with True Adventure Sports, we'll send groups as early as next week. Ministry will be highly relational as well as primarily manual labor–with a long term mindset. We're not interested in hit-and-run ministry; we want to see real life impact for Christ.
If you are interested in serving on a Tornado Response Team to Alabama, please click on the link below:
**Photos of the three men and the clock by Connie Rock.**
