The storms that hit St. Clair County on April 27, 2011, left plenty of needs and work in their wake.
St. Clair Baptist Association churches realized that and each assumed a role in assisting.
Ben Chandler, director of missions for St. Clair Association, said he could not think of a congregation in the association that did not help in some way.
Here is a sampling of what the churches and their members did:
Edwin Talley, pastor of First Baptist Church, Ragland, and fellow volunteers spent the morning putting tarps on roofs after the first storm system came through that area. Next came the task of preparing the church to open as a shelter. As night fell, Talley and his wife, Teresa, were dispatched to Shoal Creek Valley, where a deadly tornado had struck.
St. Clair Association’s disaster relief volunteers worked all night, cutting a path so that help could get into the valley.
The Talleys were in vehicles right behind them, shuttling emergency medical personnel into the valley and evacuating the injured out to a triage area.
In the days that followed, the Talleys’ church housed volunteers and St. Clair Association’s shower unit accommodated them. Talley said many of the church’s members aided in Shoal Creek Valley.
First Baptist Church, Ashville, was also attending to Shoal Creek Valley residents.
Ashville Middle School principal Phillip Johnson opened the school as an emergency shelter, feeding station and distribution center. When First Baptist, Ashville, learned of this, “we joined with him,” Pastor James Sampley said.
Sampley said the church helped to make sandwiches and hot meals and developed six routes for delivering them to residents, utility workers and volunteers in the valley.
When school resumed, the distribution center was moved to three different places and the food service portion relocated to First, Ashville.
Locally, volunteers came from St. Clair Association; First Baptist Church, Trussville, in Birmingham Baptist Association; and Clay. Some volunteers came from as far as Mississippi and Georgia to join in the effort.
“We had a lot of people involved in this ministry,” Sampley said. This included his wife, Judy, who coordinated meals for the relief effort. For more than two weeks, Sampley estimated as many as 750 meals a day were being prepared. Sampley said the amount of supplies and donations given show “how good Alabamians can be in time of trouble.”
The Gallant community, for example, held a fundraiser in which First Baptist Church, Gallant, in Etowah Baptist Association was instrumental.
After initial relief was no longer needed, First Baptist, Gallant, focused on follow-up, repairs and reconstruction. Using funds sent to or given by First, Ashville, they were able to assist with such needs as cabinets, siding, decks and mobile home setup.
CrossPoint Baptist Church, Trussville, in St. Clair Association and Hunter Street Baptist Church, Hoover, in Birmingham Association were among those offering assistance, Sampley said.
In addition, Sampley said First, Ashville, teamed with Alabama Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) and the WMU Foundation to provide a specially designed storm shelter for a handicapped person.
First, Ashville, continues to assist people in recovering from the storm.
So do Pastor Brad Moseley and his church, First Baptist Church, Moody.
First, Moody, suffered about half-a-million dollars in damage during the morning storm, Moseley said.
Even so, Moseley and his church did not worry. Instead they took care of the needs in that part of the county, allowing other resources and helpers to concentrate on Shoal Creek Valley, Chandler said.
“We organized all the chain saw, recovery crews, all the teams that came in,” Moseley said.
In the first five days after the storms, Moseley said First, Moody, organized 16,000 man hours of disaster relief. The volunteers were from First, Moody; St. Clair County; Indiana and Michigan.
Last summer, First, Moody, assisted in roofing two houses in Moody and several in Shoal Creek Valley through Extreme Ministries. Additionally, the church participated in rebuilding a home in Shoal Creek.
In February 2012, the church aided in landscaping three yards and rebuilding decks through the Word of Life Ministries’ City Shock project. Moseley said 30 minutes after the first wave of storms, the church began ministering to those affected and “it really
hasn’t stopped yet.”
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