As most of you know, I spent my day yesterday in a local community deeply impacted by the tornadoes that tore through the area. I found out when I got home last night that the family we were helping yesterday is related to a big family at my church. Someone I used to work with at Home Depot was there because it was his cousin's house and I recognized one of the other ladies from just working at Home Depot. She was a customer. Other people from my company had connections to this family as well. It was almost like we planned it, but we didn't. All we did was show up at the fire department and go where they told us to go.
All of us have sun/wind burn, cuts, scrapes and bruises but it was well worth it. I have no right to complain about that when all of the homes on this property have to be demolished. One of which was only 5 years old.
Anyway, these pictures don't really do it justice but I thought I'd share.
Even though you can't see it, that's a hill behind us. Just shows you how steep it was. He and I decided to use bigger pieces of OSB we found to pile up the smaller items and carry it up to the pile together. Later, we found a kooler at the bottom of the hill and used that too. It was even better.
Yes, that's a tree trunk cut to fit and supporting the house. (Someone that works with my Dad actually did that. He's friends with the family)
The wonderful, amazing part is that no one from these homes died. So the most important things were not lost, but that doesn't make the loss of everything else any easier.
We filled up between 4-6 tractor trailers of debris from ONE field. We found everything from roof beams to j-channel, insulation, tin, plumbing, shingles, roofing paper, etc.
It was humbling and rewarding but I really wish it wasn't needed. I'm glad I was able to help though.