Church members rally to help tornado victims
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Church members in Arkansas and Oklahoma joined together in service after tornadoes tore through their communities April 21, ripping apart hundreds of homes and killing at least four people.
No Church members were injured in the storm. However four or five LDS families lost property.The twisters ripped through the historic district in Fort Smith, Ark., and the suburb of Van Buren, Ark. The tornadoes were part of a series of storms that moved into Arkansas from Oklahoma.
Gary Keeler, home alone during the storm, took refuge in his closet as the tornado hit Van Buren. When Brother Keeler, a member of the Fort Smith 1st Ward, Fort Smith Arkansas Stake, emerged he found his home had been totally destroyed.
Within hours, in the pouring rain, dozens of Church members showed up to help him and his family clean up and pack away personal belongings.
"Everyone is really pulling together," said Rick Holder, Fort Smith stake public affairs director. "There has been an out-pouring of donations of food and time."
Responding to the requests from the Red Cross, Relief Society sisters in the stake prepared between 700 and 800 meals, with only four hours notice, for tornado victims the day after the storm.
Church members in the area, where most schools and businesses were closed, also spent time assessing the damage, cleaning up their neighborhoods and volunteering at shelters.
In Illinois, members of the Champaign Illinois Stake rallied to collect cloths, sheets and other household items for two member families whose homes were damaged or destroyed April 19 by tornadoes that hit Decatur, Urbana and Ogden, Ill.
