The Worst Brings Out The Best: Tornadoes

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

I live in one of the two areas hard-hit by tornadoes.

The Garland/Rowlett area is hardest-hit, with at least 8 dead & devastating loss of property.

The Glenn Heights/Red Oak/Ovilla area is maybe 30 miles southwest of Garland, & the damage here is bad, devastating even, but not on the scale as our neighbors to the northeast.

I've been housebound today, having gotten ill over Christmas, so I've been reading facebook & internet news, & I'm cheered by the energy & compassion people are revealing, by the effort they're willing, even *asking*, to expend to help others.

Aside from the more organized help being provided by churches & cities & so forth, people, just individual people, are offering all kinds of help.

If your home has been damaged:

A small tree-trimming company (it sounds like it might be one guy) will cut trees away from the house.

free.

U-Haul will let you store your belongings in a safe & dry unit for a month.

free.

A moving company (again, sounds like one guy) will move the stuff for you.

free.

A woman posted a request on facebook that, if you see bright blue or bright green Rubbermaid totes at the side of the road, please don't disturb them.

She filled them with hay for horses who have gotten lost. She bought the totes & bought the hay & bought the gasoline & did all this at her own initiative.

free.

Someone posted that their house has an extra bedroom available.

free.

Someone posted that he can keep up to 2 dogs for someone for a while in his extra dog runs.

free.

There've been some very generous acts by cities & businesses, too:

One city opened its shelter to take in displaced pets from the area.

A couple of vet clinics did the same.

& all kinds of fire departments, police departments, etc. are cooperating to help people, regardless of jurisdiction.

makes my eyes spritz.

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User

10 years ago

I have a sister in the Dallas area, what a frightful couple of days and I'm so sorry for the losses, but it is amazing when communities come together.

We lived on a river in Southwest Louisiana during the early 80's and within months of moving there, we were flooded from our home. We experienced the generosity you speak of first hand as the community banded together to care for each other. Our house had 7 feet of water in it, our cars were under water and we had nothing but the clothes on our backs. Our vet housed our animals for us free of charge while a friend of a neighbor and his wife, (whom we'd never met) took us (2 adults, 1 child) into their home for months while our home dried out and we refurbished it. Their kids slept on the floor to give us a bed, and they refused any type of payment. They treated us like family and I learned the true meaning of generosity and friendship from them. It was a scary hard time for us, but those people were an amazing support system.

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Comments (10)

marie_ndcal
10 years ago
I am glad people are stepping forward to help and you do see that in many disasters through out. I saw it here in ND during the floods. And some of our churches have large vans/trucks and will load up materials and take them all over.
kathleen44
10 years ago
Its amazing that it takes a devastion to bring people together and to help so many out and free too. Big animals do need care and places to stay and food to eat and they are just as scared to death as pets dogs, cats, birds, etc. are. I think its great to hear all of this and especially at this time of year when so many have spent so much of their own money for christmas and yet they are doing things for free.
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nanny98
10 years ago
WOW...thank you for letting us know about your experiences with such acts of kindness and generosity.
Sue_va
10 years ago
I've seen glimpses of the ruins of homes beyond repair, gone forever, and I wondered: where do you begin trying to get your life back, how do you cope? Reading about those who step up and help makes me remember that there are still good people every where, and how grateful we should be for them. Seeing the devastation brings tears to my eyes, and so does reading about those who rally around those who are the devastated. They will reap their rewards.
gmatx zone 6
10 years ago
Thank you sylviatx1 for sharing the wonderful stories of unselfish and caring people who have contributed what they could to help out strangers in a time of dire need. I have learned through experience that sometimes the people who are the first to show up and offer help and/or give the most are often the ones who will take from their own strictly limited budget to help others. Makes me tear up every time.
artemis_ma
10 years ago
So sweet and generous -- I'm getting weepy-eyed reading this. May everyone pull through as well as possible, and it is good to learn of the generosity in the human spirit.
rob333 (zone 7b)
10 years ago
Awesome to hear! And unfortunate it needed to be done. I experienced the same during the devastating flood we had in Nashville in 2010. It's amazing how social media has changed things, but it is completely jaw-dropping awesome when its used to help in this way. Knowing where the services are may be all that someone needed. Go Texas for taking care of your own! May you heal with great speed.
sjerin
10 years ago
Yes, "spritzing" eyes. I like that term, Sylvia, and I'm glad you weren't personally affected. I have no idea how one simply starts over and feel I probably wouldn't handle it very well.
lindaohnowga
10 years ago
Love One Another and You are your brother's keeper....warms my heart to see these being done. There are still sooooo many good people in this old world of ours and this is the kind of news we need to hear more often. This is what Americans are all about. Sylvia I'm thankful you are safe and thanks for posting this.

The Worst Brings Out The Best: Tornadoes

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marie_ndcal

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