Gadsden-area churches offer assistance following tornado

All around Macedonia Baptist Church in the Coates Bend area of Etowah County are foundations stripped of the homes and the memories that once filled them.
  
Leaning and fallen trees remind of what happened to cause all the destruction.
   
Viewing this aftermath of a tornado blankets the heart with sadness. But in early February, hammers tapping and men shouting instructions to one another filled the sunny, winter Saturday with sounds of joy.
Community effort
   
Seventy-three men and about 50 women from Crosspoint Community Church in Gadsden — and five men from other churches — dried in a home in one day for a family who lost its dwelling in a tornado. Crosspoint volunteers were to continue working on the home for about six weeks until its completion, according to Mickey Jones, church member, and Philip Ellen, senior pastor. Those two are heading up Crosspoint’s home construction project, which is growing into a ministry.
   
The home being built is for Ricky and Diane Roberson and family, who lost theirs in a tornado that struck the Coates Bend area of Etowah County. This same tornado system killed more than 10 people in Tuscaloosa.
   
Jones, a home builder from Leesburg, said there are a number of people in Crosspoint who are skilled craftsmen — such as roofers and brick masons — and are helping with the projects. Jones and Ellen orders the building materials and Ellen lines up needed subcontractors — from inside and outside the church’s membership.
   
Church members already have begun work on two other homes for families in Coates Bend and have been approached about helping with a fourth one, said Jones.
   
In some cases, the families have received government funds to assist with rebuilding. Jones and Ellen said donations to subsidize construction also have been given to the church. In fact, one person made a gift of $10,000 to go toward home building.
   
Plus, many entities have donated time or materials to the projects, said Ellen. He said a campaign is kicking off through which people can contribute $40 per square foot to help build the homes.
   
Because the second home to be built is larger than the current one, about 20 Mennonites from another region of the country have moved into Gadsden. Ellen said the Mennonites are living in the north Gadsden location of Crosspoint. When the church was in north Gadsden, it was known as Whites Chapel Baptist. With a new name, the church relocated in March 2000 to a complex off of Interstate 759 in the center of Etowah County.
   
The Robersons, who also are helping in the home’s construction, attend Macedonia Baptist.
   
That church, which is right across the street from the Robersons’ new home, has been the hub for serving those who assisted in cleaning up the area and now for the people helping to rebuild, Ellen said.
   
Already, Ellen said, Crosspoint members have been involved in construction projects elsewhere — in Mexico, a church in Lincoln, a Hispanic church in Kilpatrick and a home in Goshen after a deadly tornado there. Church members also have helped some older people with needed repairs to their homes.
   
And the home construction ministry is expected to expand.
   
The pastor said more needs are being expressed to the disaster relief division of the United Way. “We’re trying to get organized beyond this storm” because there will be others, he said of Crosspoint.
   
The church is trying to grow a ministry that will expand to include the resources of other churches and individuals, said Ellen.
   
Right now, there is an effort to create construction teams to meet with families and guide them through the building process. The teams also would help families stretch further the funds they receive to rebuild and to tap resources for free materials and furnishings.
   
“Someone has got to help walk the family through that,” Ellen said. “They’re devastated. They need somebody to walk with them.”