REACHING OUT

MANATEE COUNTY — Walking through the streets of Pleasant Grove, Ala., 19-year-old Nate Fox couldn’t help but think of his hometown in New York.

He could picture neighborhood children playing in yards and other summer festivities.

“It felt like I was walking down my old street,” Fox says.

But then, with the turn of his head, those reminders turned to pieces.

Gone were the charming Southern-style homes, each carrying the personality of its owners. Gone were flowerbeds and mailboxes. Gone were the houses themselves.

And in their stead lay piles of debris. He saw houses that looked more like stage sets with a bed on display against one or two standing walls and three porch steps leading to nowhere. In some cases, not even the home’s foundation remained. In other snapshots, parts of one house had welded itself into another.

“When you walk down the street, to the left would be wiped out and to the right would be virtually untouched,” Fox says. “(You saw) piles of what (once) was a home.”

Team member Shawn Adams agreed.

“You didn’t think things could bend like that,” he said.

In the wake of the tornado that swept through northern Alabama and the southern United States April 27, interns on Bayside Community Church’s 24/7 Team drove a trailer full of donated shampoo, diapers and other supplies to Pleasant Grove on May 2. The next day, they set to work on the streets, where they went from home to home to ask people for their needs and to offer to pray with them.

“They were asking for us to pray for their neighbors,”  Adams said.

After speaking with families, team members contacted a response center with a list of needs. There, another volunteer packaged the items, and another then delivered them to the family.

During the trip, Fox spoke with a man who had returned home to pick through what was left of his house and possessions. He had joked with volunteers and said to pray for his neighbors. And when Fox asked what the man needed, he said only a poncho. Rather than waiting for one to arrive, Fox gave the man his own.

“He said, ‘Now I have everything I need,’” Fox said, shaking his head. “It really puts into perspective what I need. I thought I had a lot of faith, but seeing (this). … (It made me think about) when a storm happens in my life — even just emotional wreckage and everything’s ripped out of me, is my foundation (in Christ) still going to be there?”

Later in the week, team members helped clean up wreckage in a nearby park, where they found parts of a bathroom toilet planted under the park’s fence. The closest home was more than 300 yards away. They also handed out ice cream and prepared 1,200 spaghetti dinners to distribute to families in need.

“It was crazy to see how when crisis happens, how much people come together,” Fox said. “People put down their agendas and people unite.”

Bayside’s Outreach and Missions Pastor Guy Breading said Bayside’s efforts were coordinated through a partnership with Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Ala. The church, like Bayside, is associated with the Association of Related Churches, a church planting organization.

Because disaster relief efforts are still in their initial phases, Breading said Bayside hopes to send more volunteers later this summer to address specific needs identified in tornado-stricken areas.

He also said several members of Bayside plan to complete training to become members of the Florida Attorney General’s Office’s Florida Crisis Response Team, which responds to community tragedies.

McNeal students collect donations for tornado victims
Students in Cris Edwards’ class at McNeal Elementary School have been busy helping families affected by the tornadoes in Alabama. Children recently collected more than 270 bags of toiletries, for tornado victims in Pleasant Grove.

The gallon-size “Bags for Bama” included items such as deodorant, toothpaste and soap.

HOW TO HELP
In partnership with the JOY FM 88.1’s “Gift Cards for Alabama” program, the Patterson Foundation, an independent charitable organization, will match up to $33,000 in gift card donations benefiting families impacted by the recent tornadoes. (Match to be made in actual gift cards).

The JOY FM drive ended May 13, but The Patterson Foundation will continue to match gift cards sent to the station through May 31.

Suggested gift cards include: Home Depot, Lowe’s, Target, Wal-Mart, Visa and American Express.

Send gift card donations to:
The Joy FM
Attn: Gift Cards for Alabama
6469 Parkland Drive
Sarasota, FL 34243

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].