“Let us thank God for holding you and your family in the palm of His hand during the frightful night of the tornado and may He continue to hold you in His palm as you navigate the future.” I prayed this prayer over and over when I was blessed to sit with families of London, Kentucky who were living in trailers after their homes were damaged or destroyed by the recent tornado.
Thanks to the very generous support of you, our parishioners, I travelled down to Kentucky on a very special mission of mercy to present a check in the amount of $10,000 to St. Williams Catholic Church. They are ministering to the many of the families, as well as distributing $4,700 in gift cards to displaced families and purchasing over $800 worth of tarps for folks needing them to protect what is left of their homes.
Upon my arrival, Vicki and Judy from St. Williams took me on an hour long visit to the devastation areas, which took my breath away and weighed heavy on my heart. I saw the destruction of this F4 tornado which was on the ground for 89 minutes, tracked for 60 miles in this community and took the lives of 19 people. Before me was miles of rubble with recognizable personal items, vehicles so damaged that they cannot be driven away, houses with tarps over roofs, tangled metal from flipped trailers, homes with just partial walls and most saddening, areas of dirt where rubble had been cleared and now represent where a family’s home once stood and now everything is gone.
I was uplifted the next day as we visited with families living in trailers, many who shared their hope and a deep faith and trust in God. Only by the hand and grace of God are some of these folks alive after listening to their stories. One family shared with me that their house was lifted off its foundation and flew 20-30 feet before being set down with minor injuries to those inside … a 17 year old girl, alone in an apartment because her mother was at work was flung against a wall after which neighbors came to her rescue before the surviving structure collapsed into the basement (where they thankfully did not have time to go to take cover). To a man who will never go back to rebuild as the memories of that night are too much to bear as he recounted placing his family and dog under him and at one point had to use all of his might to pull his wife back under him as the tornado winds started to pull her from his grasp.
They were grateful for the gift cards, laundry soap and rolls of quarters and we prayed together. This was perhaps the most touching part of our visit and cemented in my mind the necessity to take time from our busy lives to be with those who need a caring smile or hug, to listen to them or to pray with or for them!
May this mission of mercy be an inspiration to us all to continue to answer God’s call to reach out to those in need to share our time, talent and treasure! Beautiful encounters are waiting for us all!
Please Click Here to see photos of the trip and aid.
Chris Otis