Church members are so imbued with charity that Grace Wilson never had to ask for help in the moments after a tornado ripped the roof on her Salt Lake City home on Aug. 11.

People just converged on her home "like ants on an ant farm."

They covered the home with tarps and removed furniture. They cleaned up insulation and salvaged family pictures. They removed downed trees and debris from the yard. At any given time during the days after the storm, there were 30 people working inside the home and another 50 outside. The sound of chain saws went on for hours.

Volunteers were still working at the Wilsons' home three days after a tornado hit down downtown Salt Lake City — collapsing the tents of an outdoor Retailers Summer Market, blowing the windows out of a prominent hotel, felling trees and limbs on Temple Square, and toppling the construction crane at the site of the Church's new assembly hall before moving into neighborhoods north of the city. There it left several homes unhabitable and damaged dozens more. One person was killed during the disaster and dozens more were injured. (Please see Aug. 14 Church News for a report on the disaster.)

The Wilsons never imagined people would be so good. After the tornado, the Red Cross and city and state agencies worked side by side with Church members and others in the community to assist them and others affected.

"Our neighbors moved everything out of the house — people we didn't even know were cleaning," said Emily Wilson, 23, standing with her mother in a bedroom without a roof, tarps blowing in the background.

Sister Wilson said Church members, as well as others in the community, simply understand the principle of charity. "They were just here," she explained. "They just came in and did what needed to be done. They stayed and worked until they had to leave, and then they came back. People I have never seen before were working in my bedroom."

One neighbor stopped by to check on the Wilsons minutes after the tornado hit. When she realized they needed help, she didn't even go home, but instead borrowed some of Sister Wilson's clothes and went right to work. "The gospel is so much a part of her life, she doesn't have to be asked," Sister Wilson said of her charitable neighbor.

The Wilsons gathered Aug. 14 with three other families in the Salt Lake Ensign Stake; their homes had sustained the worst damage in the storm. Each had houses that were uninhabitable. Each shared stories of service. All had felt love from neighbors — members and non-members alike.

Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve and Elder Bruce D. Porter of the Seventy, who works with the Utah North Area Presidency, met with the families to offer support.

"My purpose was to come and tell you we love you. From President [Gordon B. Hinckley] right down through the leadership of the Church, we are concerned about you," said Elder Ballard to the four families. "You are in our prayers. . . . You will get through this. When it is over we will all be stronger."

Elder Ballard noted that it is marvelous to watch Church members rally around others in distress. "You have the whole Church in back of you," he said.

The families told Elder Ballard of the care they had received — of the hundreds of people who had offered to help and of visits from Church leaders, including the General Relief Society Presidency. They were grateful for the police department, which responded quickly after the tornado struck.

Both Elder Ballard and Elder Porter lauded the bishops and stake president who immediately met the needs of those affected.

Elder Ballard noted that in the hours after the tornado he couldn't reach Salt Lake Ensign Stake Pres. Robert W. Edwards. "He was with us," said the families in his stake.

"This is a great organization we belong to," Elder Ballard answered. "This is a great Church."

Elder Porter called the local bishops and the stake president shining examples of how one stake can take care of itself. "It was a classic case of self-reliance on a stake level," he said.

Elder Ballard told the four families to let their local Church leaders know if they need help. "The problem is," he added, "that we have to be careful — if you set off the alarm, you will get more help than you need. People are good. We don't know how good they are until we have tragedy."

Glorya Garcia Schow, who lost the roof of her home during the storm, said the visit from Elder Ballard and Elder Porter was sustaining to her and the other victims. "It shows the support," she said. "We have been admonished as a Church to bear each others' burdens. Certainly, that has been personified. We have been told to love one another. We saw that in all the faces of the people who came to help."

Pres. Edwards said the stake canceled youth conference, scheduled for Aug. 13-14. Instead, the youth helped the tornado victims living within their stake boundaries. The conference's theme was based of the parable of the Ten Virgins found in Matt. 25:1-13. Fliers around the neighborhood read: "Drop in on someone in need; as you lighten someone's load, you also light your own way."

Pres. Edwards said the tornado offered the youth a practical application of the important concept of "having oil in their lamp." With willingness, he added, the youth went forward to help.

He explained that the tornado has brought people in the stake boundaries together. "As I have gone out each evening there are people talking to each other. People are outside, visiting and interacting. They are sharing their feelings and getting to know people they perhaps haven't known as well before. These kinds of [disasters] build cohesiveness as people respond to them. "

For the Wilsons, the tornado — although devastating — was a happy reminder of the good in the world.

"We have had people say that if they had known that the neighborhood and the ward would reach out like this, they would have liked to live here," Sister Wilson said.