Immediately following the tornado, we really did not know what to do as a church, we just knew we had to do something. We gathered together for worship at 10:45AM for worship and reassembled at 2:00PM to get to work. Shortly after we arrived at the church at 2:00PM, Victim Relief Ministries along with the Texas Baptist Men were there to help us get organized and understand what we needed to do.
We made the decision to ask for plastic storage bins and baby supplies, to take care of what we viewed as the two greatest needs we could think of. In addition to those items, people from the church and community brought everything from toys to toiletries to our building to help out those in need. Another decision we made right away was to only accept new items, and to refer people who wanted to donate clothes to other donation centers. This proved to be a very good decision as many places became inundated with used clothes and were unable to take other essentials people needed.
By the end of the day, our Fellowship Hall was transformed into a full-blown donation center. It was overwhelming to see the generosity of people who just wanted to help. One thing we never expected was to have the local news catch wind of what we were doing. Regardless, two local news stations came out and covered our work, which led to many people learning where they could come to help people in our community. We are grateful the news stations covered the good taking place in the midst of all the bad.
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