Mr. Gray's Place in Camp Creek, Tennessee

On 27 April 2011, tornados roared up through Alabama and eventually ended up blasting east Tennessee before continuing on into southwest Virginia. I remember the night fairly well. We kept the local weather on all evening, listening to the local weathermen excitedly reporting warning after warning. I stood out on the front stoop several times after hearing the tornados were in Greene County and coming our way. We went to our safe place once around 11:30 that night, but the monsters never made it. They jumped over us--or whatever they do--and struck in Virginia, just north of Abingdon.

Today I joined a group from Cherokee Church to go to the Camp Creek community of Greene County. We had a large group, so we split up into three groups. The group I was with went to the new house of a Mr. Gray. He and his wife lived in the big house in the foreground when the storms hit. He talked about the two of them hiding sort of under the floor. The twister sucked out several window panes and behind that sucked out household items, including the television. As you can see, the porch was taken out and the roof was hit hard. What you can't see is the damage to the back of the house. Most of the time since the storm, Mr. and Mrs. Gray have lived in the little outbuilding just to the left behind the house. On the hill in back is the new house, probably partially paid for by FEMA dollars. Mr. Gray is hoping that he and his wife can move in the new house by the end of March, a month short of the one-year anniversary of the storm.

During the time we were at the house, we put primer throughout on the interior walls. Then we got a first coat of paint on about half of that interior. Afterwards, we went to a local Free Will Baptist Church and had a meal in the fellowship hall--some local volunteers, our group and a group of handymen from Hendersonville, North Carolina.

It was a rewarding day spent with friends doing something helpful in the world.