May 27th-28th Trip

We arrived in Phil Campbell around 10 o'clock on Friday evening. We divided into two work groups that night. Greg Holleman and Allan Beckner lead the teams. We had a good night sleep on air matresses, floors, and pews. We were blessed to have Debi Potter showed up the next morning with sausage and biscuits. Everyone was on there way to work by 8 am. April, Carol, and Katelyn delivered supplies to a few family and friends of Aprils. Ashley, Debi, and I took supplies to a FEMA trailer park. The trailers were better than the horror stories I have heard about the FEMA trailers. We met Chipper, a 13 year old young man, at one of the first trailers we visited. He jumped in and started helping us deliver to the rest of the trailers. He was a huge blessing, and because of donated gift cards was able to repay him for his kindness. While delivering to one trailer Chipper found out one of his dads best friends was also in a FEMA trailer. They hugged each other several times. There were many stories and tears that came when we delivered here. Greg, Tim, Cathy, Rhonda, Lori, Ryan, and Josh helped at the Cothrum's home. They demolished walls and had the house ready to start rebuilding. Allan, Savannah, Madison, Lexi, Josh, Burt, and Kevin went to a family's property and cleaned up the area. They picked up debris and moved fallen trees. At lunch Cathy joined Ashley and me to deliver more supplies. Gregs group continued to work at the Cothrum's. Allan's group went to the Smith's house to rip up carpet from where their house once stood. They also picked up their belongings scattered in their yard. By two we had delivered all the supplies and Allan's group was finished. We met at East Franklin Junior High where they have turned in the gym to a distribution center and serve the community food. We all went to the Cothrum's where we picked up debris and trash from the yard, and helped box up some of their belongings. At four we were packing up and heading home. We accomplished so much in the short amount of time we were there. I couldn't believe we were able to get home before the sun set. Thank you to everyone who helped out. Through your donations, volunteering your time, and your prayers so many families were helped this weekend.