Hundreds flock to aid families impacted by Columbia tornado: 'Volunteer State for a reason'

Mom of 2 boys, Amy Anderson remembers quickly getting one last look at the sky and quickly rushing to the door before an EF-3 tornado hit Columbia on Wednesday.

She had experienced tornados before, but never one in her own community.

“I remember seeing those dark storm clouds and thinking, this is going to be disastrous," Anderson said. “I was terrified but had to put on my mom face because I couldn’t let my kids know how scared I truly was.”

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The Columbia native’s house sustained minor damage, but the she said that fear she felt will last a lifetime.

Led by Destiny Church in Columbia, Randolph Howell Elementary School is serving as the tornado relief hub, in Columbia, which is located less than a mile from where the tornado touched down. Roads like Lasea, Cranford Hollow, Blackburn and Joe Brown sustained much damage, including destroyed homes.

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“I’m so thankful to Destiny Church because they’re providing resources to help families feel some sort of normal,” she said.  “We’re called the Volunteer State for a reason because no matter the circumstance, we always come out to help.”

Since Wednesday churches from all over including Destiny Church, C1, Belonging Coast, Connection Church, Cowboy Church and Graceland Church in Franklin reached out with resources and volunteers.

The violent tornado — one of six twisters in Middle Tennessee — damaged 105 structures in Maury County and destroyed 40 homes Wednesday evening as night fell, resulting in one fatality and four injuries.

Gov. Bill Lee stepped through the rubble during a visit to Columbia on Thursday, spreading hope amid heartache by praising the community support being given to affected families.

Almost a dozen cars in a steady stream entered the parking lot of Howell Elementary as residents shared stories about what they experienced, horrors they faced and how they will continue to rebuild.

Piles of necessities were neatly lined up as volunteers swiftly loaded materials and supplies into the cars of those affected.

Towards the back of the parking lot, a Salvation Army food truck offered meals to those in need.

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Among the chaos, elementary school-aged volunteers, use their imagination as they play with the discarded boxes that once held the tools to help Maury residents rebuild.

Michael Baker, executive pastor of Destiny Church, serves as director of the makeshift relief center.

“We usually have help for any type of relief effort or cause because its planned. We have signs up and a lot of our Church community comes out to help," Baker said. “However, this is the largest amount of volunteers I’ve seen for something like this.

“Yesterday we had over 100 volunteers. We’ve seen a steady stream of people come in all day and we are here and ready to help them in whatever way we can.”

By the end of the day, Baker said almost 300 volunteers showed up to help.

People have donated everything from food and water to sanitary products, suitcases and cleaning supplies, he said.

“We’ve had people from all over donate whatever they can to help. One man even drove from Delaware to donate supplies.”

Three meals a day are also being offered by the Salvation Army at the location out of a food truck.

'Pass system' implemented for access to affected areas

Shane Petty, Chief Operations Officer for Maury County’s Emergency Management office, helped to coordinate relief efforts.

"The emergency shelter is working like a drive-through. Residents pull up to the entrance and community volunteers ask what they need and begin to fill their cars," Petty said.

Volunteers fall into two categories: contractor and volunteer, he explained, who are given a special pass to enter affected areas.

"Wristbands are given to everyone who enters affected residential areas to ensure looting doesn’t occur. We want to keep everyone safe while making sure we those who want to help can do so in a safe manner. Colored wristbands help us to know who we’re letting in to aid with the clean-up efforts.”

A pass can be obtained at the school.

Maury County Mayor Sheila Butt visited the recovery site on Friday.

“Maury County is a strong, independent, resilient community," Butt said. "We call ourselves Team Maury and that's exactly what we are. Disaster brings out the worst for the best in people. And in Maury County, it brings out the best in people."

“We will rebuild together. We have things in place because we knew that this kind of day would come.

“We have an outstanding office of emergency management and county offices so within the next two weeks, we will be executing that plan and we hope to rebuild quickly, but we want to rebuild well.”

How to help or get help:

Relief at Randolph Howell Elementary School, 653 Bear Creek Pike, will stay open as supplies keep coming, Baker said.

More donations of water are needed at Randolph Howell as well as toilet paper, paper towels, big trash bags and diapers.

Tennessee Children's Home is accepting in-kind donations at its main campus at 2225 Dr. Robertson Road in Spring Hill from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

A shelter for displaced families will be at West Seventh Church of Christ, 405 W. 7th St. in Columbia.

Gabrielle Chenault is a reporter at The Tennessean.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Volunteers show up in hundreds in Columbia to aid recovery efforts