Nancy and Allan Pratt spent the hours after deadly tornados ripped through their community Feb. 23 wondering how they could help friends and neighbors who had lost everything.

"I thought what if my house had been hit, what needs would I have," recalled Sister Pratt, a member of the St Cloud Ward, Orlando Florida South Stake. Then she thought of all the people who would need something to eat the next morning.So she and her children, using a generator for power, cooked hundreds of pancakes and made juice. Then they drove around the neighborhood with a sign in the back of their car that read: "Free breakfast."

Hundreds of Church members - including the Pratts - found that the havoc-reaping tornados left behind countless opportunities for service.

The tornados touched down in Florida Feb. 22-23, from Daytona Beach on the Altantic Coast to the Tampa Bay area on the Gulf Coast.

During the storms, winds up to 210 mph turned entire neighborhoods into heaps of wood, twisted metal and broken glass. Power was cut to 41,000 homes, 39 people died and 250 were injured. All Church members and missionaries were reported safe.

Since the Pratt's house was not damaged, the children spent the day serving breakfast and then took sandwiches and drinking water around the neighborhood in intervals.

The next day the family worked to help a member family whose home was damaged in the storm. And in following days they worked with other Church groups, offering help where it was needed.

"Everyone was concerned about everyone else's welfare," said Sister Pratt. "Neighbors became family."

More than 85 members of the Orlando Florida South Stake worked Feb. 25 removing and cleaning up debris from around a retention pond in Lakeside. An elementary school in the area could not reopen until the area was clean and chain link fences, destroyed by the tornados, could be rebuilt around ponds.

That weekend two work parties from the stake, one composed of 77 members, the other made up of more than 250 members, boarded up windows and placed plastic on roofs to help victims prepare for rain. They also distributed baby food, water and diapers from the bishops' storehouse.

"I have a feeling that we will be finding good opportunities to serve for many weeks to come as we learn of other people who need help," said Joel H. McKinnon, Orlando Florida Stake president. "This has been a terrible experience to go through, but it has been interesting to see how people rally around each other."

More than 40 members of the Pine Hills Ward, Orlando Florida Stake, moved debris, tree limbs and metal from their community the day after the disaster. They even found a 80-year-old antique vase, which was buried under rubble but not broken, and returned it to its owners. "They were very appreciative," Bishop Dennis P. Solomon said.

Church members in the area are also donating money, through the Church's humanitarian relief fund, to help organizations such as the Salvation Army and the Red Cross.

"Right now we are in good shape," said Bishop Solomon. "But there will be work to be done for weeks."