This past week, I spent four days visiting Tuscaloosa, AL to help rebuild homes that were destroyed by the tornadoes that hit April 27th. It was certainly a humbling experience, seeing the mile wide path of destruction of the tornado that stayed on the ground for a full six minutes. While one house disappears, the one next to it might still be standing. The statistics following the storm are startling, but make me grateful, not only for what I have, but for having the ability to help those who were affected by the storms that day.
While working with Habitat for Humanity, I noticed a man on the roof wearing only a T-shirt. I yelled up to him, like the mom I am, and told him he better get a coat on before he got sick. He laughed at me and said he was fine. Meanwhile, I was freezing my tail off. After being in the warm Orlando weather, working outside all day in an extremely windy 45 degrees was definitely a challenge. He laughed and said he'd be okay. When we returned from lunch that day, he had full winter coveralls on. When I mentioned it, he said his wife had come by and forced him to put them on. I had to laugh at that.
Later, I learned that his name was Robert Reed. A local hero, who not only survived the storm, but who saved 12 people that day, having pulled them from the rubble. He talked about what happened that day, and finished by telling us that losing all of his material things was nothing. His family had survived and that was the most important. (read his story from the link below). When I return to Tuscaloosa, if it's cold, I'll still tell Robert to put a jacket on. Hopefully, at that point, he'll be able to go inside his new Habitat home to get warm. He happend to be working with us so he could already begin to complete the required number of service hours needed to receive one. Read about his story below.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20111127/NEWS/111129826?tc=ar
I want to send a special thanks out to Dewayne who was the foreman/comic relief at the home we worked on, Cat who always had a great smile on his face. I can't wait to hear about Appie being able to move into her new home. Also a shoutout to Kevin Almond, Associate Athletics Director at the University of Alabama who welcomed us to Tuscaloosa with open arms. I am truly grateful to all the people I met and look forward to my next trip there.
Myself, Robert, Dewayne, Cat, Annie and Richard
Thank you so much for helping us in Tuscaloosa! We are grateful for your help...the outpouring of prayers and help from people like yourself give us such hope.
It was great meeting you,
Kristen Love
(from the Mayor's Office in Tuscaloosa)
Posted by: Kristen Love | 12/21/2011 at 11:25 AM