Interact's Impressions of Birmingham, AL: First Day of Disaster Relief

The Interact club, led by teacher Steve Chisnell, is in the Birmingham, AL, area this week for disaster relief work after January’s tornadoes:

First day changing lives

Today was our first day on the work site. As we were driving to the job, I saw some houses that were affected by the tornado. One house had a tree that was on the roof and had collapsed part of the roof.

When our bus pulled up to the work site I was shocked. There were piles of debris everywhere, especially in the backyard.

In the morning we worked hard and cleared a lot of debris from the houses. At lunchtime we found out that it was one of the house owner’s birthday, and we sung to her. After that she told us that she was grateful for our help. She and one of the other house owners told us thank you through their tears.

When I look back at my camera and see the before and after pictures I could tell that we were very hardworking.  I am looking forward to meeting the other house owners and to change the lives of others.                                                         

<3

Bridgette Russell

Trip is a sign of hope 

Today was a day where I believe everybody grew up, at least a little bit. Some of us saw things that we have never seen before, the wicked path of a tornado. To most people, this is foreign. We’re used to snow and extreme weather changes. But nothing compared to this magnitude of destruction.

To experience this devastation first hand was beyond anything I could have predicted. To see the looks in the eyes of the people whose homes were destroyed and damaged, to see the pain and sorrow, is something that can never be replicated unless you’ve gone through it yourself.

To us, this is a trip to help those in need. But to them, this trip means more than all the money needed to repair their homes. This trip is a sign of hope that they can someday soon return to the normality of their lives.

– AJ Brinning