On Dec. 10, people across the country watched in horror as a tornado ripped through western Kentucky, destroying homes, lives and livelihoods.
Heartbroken citizens felt the loss of their fellow Americans, especially since the tragedy happened so close to Christmas.
“It touches your heart when these people have nothing. Some have lost their children and family members. You feel so helpless,” said Sandy Dulaney, a member of East Grove United Methodist Church on Belmar Road in Franklin.
He had a vision of collecting enough relief supplies to fill his pickup truck and trailer to take to Kentucky.
His churches got on board with the idea and began planning.
“I teased our minster and I said, ‘well pastor, maybe this will be our field of dreams.’ If you build it, they will come… God will provide,” Dulaney said.
East Grove United Methodist Church held a collection event a week ago today. Church members set up the space, then waited for supplies to come.
They posted the details on Facebook, which was shared repeatedly by the community.
“The positive power of social media took over… It got posted and reposted, and someone sent me a text and said, ‘You are going to be busy’,” Dulaney said.
“People started coming, and they just kept coming and coming,” said Dulaney. “When they brought stuff, things were coming in by the carload, by the truckload… It was just amazing.”
Dulaney added that “it was just a constant pouring in with bags and boxes… With people smiling and saying they wanted to help… We went through hundreds of bags of clothes. We had so many jackets we sorted. We just had about anything you could imagine.”
The group collected clothes, food, toiletries, paper products, bedding, pet food and more. There was something for everyone, from babies to the elderly.
“We had a group out of Pleasantville Elementary. They brought 100 stuffed Christmas stockings for the children down there,” Dulaney said.
Other contributors include Franklin First United Methodist Church, Christ United Methodist Church, Oakland United Methodist Church of Dempseytown, East Ridge-Harmony United Methodist Church, Franklin Alliance Church and churches from Bradford and East Brady, as well as community members.
“These are just the ones I know about. There are so many more. People were constantly coming and going,” Dulaney said. “It was a spark that went into a roaring fire.”
The group ended up filling a 22-foot U-Haul. People also pitched in monetary donations that went to cover gas and rental expenses.
The U-Haul full of donations was driven to an auction house in New Florence in Westmoreland County. The Squirrel Hill Hunting Club had organized the auction house as a regional collection center.
“This place looked like it would bust at the seems,” said Dulaney of the auction house. “There were trailers coming. It was just unbelievable… Anyone who heard about it, that’s where you went.”
“It was like Noah’s Ark when all the animals came. Here come all the trailers, all the U-Hauls. It was wonderful,” she said.
After the donations were collected and sorted at the hunting club, they were loaded into a semi-truck to be transported to Kentucky.
The truck left New Florence at 5 a.m. Monday and headed to Georgetown, Kentucky. From there, the supplies will be transported to Mayfield, Kentucky, the town that was hit hardest by the tornado.
Dulaney said many of the people who contributed to the relief effort said the same thing. Many told her they watched the coverage of the tornado on the news and wanted to help, but just didn’t know how.
“Someone just planted that spark in our pastor, and it gave people purpose. It brought us all together for the greater good,” said Dulaney.
“God just touched so many hearts… You just can’t put it into words. It is God’s divine intervention… It was a God thing,” said Dulaney.
“We are always so caught up in Christmas. Sometimes we lose the real meaning.” Dulaney added. She said that as the people brought donations, they said “It feels like Christmas again.”
