Thursday, April 28, 2011

Something Serious

Today, we here at Champagne Mommyhood are taking a departure from our normal lighthearted bantering and helpful money saving tips to pay tribute to the victims of the April 25-28 2011 Tornado Outbreak. We're also going to tell you how you can help and where to find information as we find it as well.

We ourselves being in the South (sorry ladies I'm using our real names at this point-Shiloh/Ouiser-KY/TN, Aimee/Truvy-AL and Meg/M'Lynn-GA) we were affected by this as well. We either live very closely to the areas affected, know someone in the areas affected or have actually LIVED in the areas affected.

Up here in northern TN/South Central KY  we were spared the devestation that occurred to our neighbors south, but barely. Had the system not taken that last minute turn...I don't even want to think about it quite honestly. The night this all started I had made a judgement call and packed up the important belongings and rented a motel room for myself, Robert(Not Quite Hubby) and Will (Wee Man). The three of us live in a mobile home. I was not willing to take the chance.

Camped in the motel with my laptop, television and cellphone, I waited. I was waiting for Robert to get off work as we were expecting 'all Hell to break loose' around the time he got off (midnight). As I was watching the systems push toward Clarksville (TN) I naturally grew more nervous. Finally close to midnight, the warnings started. I received a text from Robert telling me the sirens were going off. At the motel which is next to the interstate, I opened the door and saw and heard nothing. While there was rotation downtown there were no touchdowns. A few minutes later, I open the door again and the wind was picking up really good...a minute later we lost power. That's when the rotation was passing almost directly overhead. Thankfully it moved on and the power came back on about a minute or two later. I had grabbed Will and was cowering under the sink/vanity area in the room. About 15 minutes later Robert arrived. Save for a short nap, I spent the next 12-18 hours glued to the laptop,watching the Weather Channel and pinging for updates from friends to the south.

As for what happens next...I'll let Aimee and Meg pick up that end of the story...

If you've seen the pictures, heard the reports, the damage is just unfathomable, and I have no words beyond that.

I've been researching today though and I've found some links and or information that may be of use to those wishing to help and get more information:

Latest News:
http://www.timesfreepress.com/ (serves the Chattanooga area and NW GA)

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/ (Tuscaloosa, AL)

http://www.al.com/birminghamnews/ (Birmingham, AL)

http://www.waff.com/ (Huntsville, AL)



To donate blood:
http://www.bloodassurance.org/www/docs/3/chattanooga-blood-donation-locations

To donate money:

Text "GIVE" to 80888 to donate 10 dollars to relief efforts in TN, AL and GA (this is via the Salvation Army)

text "REDCROSS" to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

Other sites:
http://helpalabama.com/

There are also a number of sites on Facebook right now as well:

Pictures and Documents Found
Toomers for Tuscaloosa

There are more and I'm slowly getting to them as we speak. It's taking time of course as I'm trying to keep up with Will and stuff.
We'll keep updating this list as the information becomes available.

2 comments:

  1. This was definitely devastating!
    You are to be commended for getting the word out.
    Good job Ladies!!

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  2. Aimee/Truvy here...here is a link my mom told me about. if you have a loved one in an affected area, or you are in an affected area and want to let everyone know you are okay, please check this link out.
    http://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms//

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