Oklahoma Relief Efforts
What started out as a "baby" idea turned into something much bigger...
This past weekend my family and 22 others went to Shawnee, OK to help with the tornado relief. We met Simon from Frontline Church who took us to Emanuel Baptist Church to sign waivers. We got the address to one location and the lady helping us said, "Don't bother looking for street signs because there aren't any." They had plywood signs that were spray painted with house numbers on them. The first house we went to was flooded with help. I thought, there's got to be somewhere they can have us go that needs more help. I asked Simon if he knew where else we could go. We weren't familiar with the area or if they were only letting us into permitted areas.
When we got to the house they sent us to next, we were greeted by Susan Hunt, friend and former student of Debbie Parrish. The first thing she said was "let me tell you about this amazing woman." She was her music teacher 20 years ago and is such as sweet woman. Debbie Parrish and her boyfriend live on the seven acres that is heavily wooded. Lots of trees were down and needed clearing off of the property. There were lots of hands, but lots to do. She said when the tornado hit she was at a blue grass festival in Branson, MO and her boyfriend Joe was at home. He hid in the ravine on their property because he said it was safer than being in the trailer house. Their house didn't seem to have any damage but the yard had lots of trees to cut. I spoke with Debbie and she said how blessed she was to have us there. I hugged her and told her we were there to help.
In that moment the last few crazy days all came into perspective for me.
We were called to be the hands and feet of Jesus. I don't step very far out of my box and this was way out. Susan said Debbie thought she was just going to have family and friends help and then we all showed up, walking down her drive way in our green outreach shirts. This was such a life changing experience for my family and myself. To see and be a part of the goodness of people, it has been life changing.
-Sheila DuPont
We are still collecting donations for Oklahoma, Granbury and West.