Have you ever turned on the news and seen something so terrible that you went through the day saying quick prayers for those in the midst of that thing, thinking "I sure hope someone helps them."
Yep. That's me. I'm a watcher. I'm a thinker. I get outraged when I see injustice or tragedy, and I'm the one that always, always, ALWAYS thinks "someone needs to help them". I watch and I pray, but I haven't ever been much of a doer.
Don't get me wrong, I've done little things here and there - we aren't rich. Heck, most months we are wishing we had a little more elastic to be able to actually make ends meet. So, it's a rare opportunity to be able to donate monetarily. I usually donate canned goods and whatever things we have in our pantry that may make a difference. Sometimes I even try to buy an extra few things specifically to donate. But, that's usually it.
On Monday, May 20th, I watched as a helicopter flew around Moore, Oklahoma surveying the damage done by a GIGANTIC tornado. I wept as they reported that an elementary school was leveled and children were lost or buried beneath the rubble. I went to bed that night doing exactly as I always did - praying for the families, and asking God to touch someone's heart to go help them. I had no idea that the person HE would touch to be His hands and His feet in Moore, Oklahoma would be me.
Tuesday morning, I grabbed my 8 year old and hugged him, after waking up grieving for the families that were still sifting through rubble looking for their own 8 and 9 year olds. When my 11 and 4 year old woke up, I hugged them as well, and thanked God that I had my three little men with me. Then I got online and saw that Mercury One was on their way to Moore. I felt an overwhelming need to be there, to help in some way. I saw that Dana Loesch was trying to organize a few trucks in St. Louis to take supplies to Moore, and I began to devise a plan. I called my husband and asked him if I could get people to donate items, would he mind if I took them to St. Louis? He answered with an enthusiastic "yes," but he misunderstood me. I only wanted to take the items to St. Louis, but he thought I was going to Moore, Oklahoma.
My dad and I worked together on Tuesday alongside my boys and my mom. We made signs - simple, poorly written signs (because my handwriting is terrible) that said "Oklahoma Disaster Relief" and gave the address where we set up a trailer. We parked the trailer and stood on the street corners of the two main streets of our little town to let people know we were going to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the people of Moore, Oklahoma.
All day long, we stood. Some people drove by and looked the other way. Some came by and asked how long we were accepting donations. Others graciously donated cash, making comments like "I don't know what to get, so please buy something and put in your truck." Others stopped to ask if I planned to deliver the items, giving me money to pay for gas and lodging. Still others went to the grocery stores, and came back with cases of water, food, baby care and hygiene products. Some even cleaned out closets and brought household necessities. I decided to return on Wednesday to continue collecting donations.
On Friday morning, my three little men and I left to go to Moore, Oklahoma. St. Louis didn't come through, and I wanted to go to Moore and help anyway, so off we went. On Saturday morning I drove into Moore looking for a place to take my donations. I really wanted to do far more than simply drop them off. We found, on the outskirts of the devastation, a little brick building that had a flag banner with an eagle on it. We pulled in and asked if they were accepting donations. They were accepting everything, while other places were only taking certain items. I would've been running around all day trying to get distribute my items, so I was very thankful I found this location so quickly.
I'm so glad I stopped there. This particular donation site is a non-profit organization who, during normal business hours, helps Vietnam Veterans find jobs, locate housing and other things. During this disaster, they were going to reach out to all veterans who needed help and were making sure all the donations got to where they were needed. The owners of this organization were incredibly sweet and when I offered to help in any way, they said that people from Texas and around the area were just coming by and helping off load donations - taking them to where they were needed - but they appreciated the offer. Of course, having a four year old at my side probably didn't make me look very useful.
Margarette, the organizer at Vietnam Veterans of America Donation Station in Moore, Ok, said the building itself was a miracle. She and her husband live only a few blocks away and didn't expect to find the building intact. There was a hospital, theater and other little buildings around it. The hospital and theater were destroyed - still standing but completely destroyed. The other little buildings surrounding theirs had been completely ripped apart.
My boys and I were not really able to be useful, so we drove around a bit and took pictures. It honestly took my breath away. In the parking lot of the theater, cars were piled on top of each other and buried under rubble. On the other side of highway, there were houses that had tree branches on the roofs. As we drove along, each house took progressively more damage until you could tell that there were houses completely leveled.
And though I wanted so badly to do more, I just did what I could. I used what was available to me - a truck and a trailer - and I was able to take donations down to Oklahoma. Looking back at last week, I wish we could've done more. I wish we could've given more. I wish we could've been more useful. But we did what we could, we did our best.
I didn't write this to sound boastful, because it isn't about what I did. I wanted to write this to say that you can choose to step outside your comfort zone. You can stretch your limits, and think outside of the box.
One of the first songs we heard on the radio as we were driving into Moore was the song "I Refuse" by Josh Wilson. I'm so grateful that for a time, my boys and I were able to be the hands and feet of Jesus!
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