May 3, 2011
By Mary Frances Schjonberg

The Episcopal Diocese of Alabama is helping its members and neighbors recover from the late-April series of tornadoes that blew up across the southern United States.

According to a story on the diocese's website, Bishop Henry Parsley of Alabama made a day-long visit to Tuscaloosa May 1. Parsley delivered emergency relief funds to Christ Episcopal Church, St. Matthias' Episcopal Church and Canterbury Chapel on the University of Alabama campus for use in meeting the urgent needs of parishioners and members of the wider community affected by the storms.

Parsley participated in morning worship services at Christ Church and evening services at Canterbury Chapel, the only diocesan facility known to have sustained damage from the storms, the story said.

The Ven. David Drachlis, diocesan disaster officer, told Episcopal News Service May 3 that the chapel's roof was damaged when early straight-line winds in advance of the main storm blew a tree down.

Despite that damage and a resulting lost of power and phone service, Canterbury members began early on to organize students who wanted to help with relief efforts. On April 28, their Twitter feed said, "We do not have power or phone but are available for shelter to those in need. Will try to provide food later today. Gas kitchen!" And the next day, the feed said "We will still be participating in our food ministry Tuesday morning, with donations from around the state and breakfast for those in need."

Canterbury members also began going out of Tuscaloosa to help in surrounding counties. "7 trucks of supplies at Canterbury Chapel Town. Need to distribute. Tweet us with what you need and where you are!" read a tweet on May 2.

Meanwhile, the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in Guntersville is feeding recovery workers, Drachlis said, adding that several parishes throughout the state are collection points for relief supplies. A group of Episcopalians from the Birmingham area delivered water, clothing, and toiletries to the impoverished rural Sawyerville area of Hale county – home of the diocese's Sawyerville Day Camp ministry – over the weekend. Homes there were destroyed and four lives were reported lost, according to Drachlis.

"And the list goes on," he said.

In an April 29 letter to the diocese, Parsley said, "The reports of so many deaths, injuries, and widespread destruction are heartrending."

"We pray particularly for those families who have lost loved ones and those who are homeless," he wrote. "It appears that our diocesan churches were not badly damaged, although some of our parishioners and clergy did suffer significant damage to their homes."

The National Weather Service said May 2 that from 8 a.m. EDT April 25 to 8 a.m. EDT April 28, an estimated 362 tornadoes tore through the southern part of the United States. The 24 hours ending at 8 a.m. EDT April 28 saw 312 tornadoes, the service said. At least 350 people were killed during the entire outbreak, according to the NWS, with 340 deaths coming during the last 24 hours. April 27 was the deadliest single day for tornadoes since the March 18, 1925, tornado outbreak that caused 747 fatalities across seven states.

The Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado caused at least 65 deaths, the weather service said, and had a maximum width of 1.5 miles and a track 80 miles long. The agency's Birmingham office said May 2 that the tornado was an EF-4, the second-highest designation of strength, with peak winds of up to 190 miles an hour. NWS aerial imagery of the destruction along that path is seen online at http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2011/20110430_aerialimages_tornadoes.html.

The most recent wave of destructive weather comes after storms barreled through the Southeast over the weekend of April 16.

While in Tuscaloosa, Parsley inspected tornado-damaged areas of the city and visited the Spontaneous Volunteer Coordination center established in the St. Matthias' parish hall. Staffed in large part by St. Matthias' parishioners, the center is being operated by Compassionate Coalition, a group of area faith-based organizations that have joined together to work with Tuscaloosa County Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster, the Tuscaloosa County Emergency Management Agency and the Red Cross to meet countywide needs after disasters, the diocesan news story said.

To date, the St. Matthias' center has processed more than 4,000 volunteers, Betty Hust, a member of the St. Matthias' vestry and the Compassionate Coalition board of directors, said in the story.

The center is fielding volunteers in response to emergency needs articulated by the Tuscaloosa mayor's office. The volunteers' work has included chainsaw crews, triage teams that go door to door checking on the needs of residents in damaged areas, and transport crews to deliver relief supplies to the field, the diocese said.

On April 28, Hust told the Crimson White, the University of Alabama student newspaper, that Compassion Coalition "is a group to organize spontaneous volunteers, people who have not necessarily been trained."

Within two hours of St. Matthias opening up as a headquarters for volunteer coordination in Tuscaloosa to help with disaster relief efforts, 745 people came out to lend a hand, the newspaper's website reported. Mobilization Chair Nancy Green said 45 congregations and 13 denominations came together in the coalition, the web story said.

"One of the biggest things we need is debris pickup," Hust said at that time. "But we also have chainsaw crews, medical aid crews, transportation groups and organizational crews."

St. Matthias also accepted cash and food donations, especially bottled water.

"The steady output of volunteers is hopefully good for the community," Green said. "I feel our community is greatly blessed in talent, resources and people. We are very sorry for the people who have been impacted."

Episcopal News Service
The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.