Alabama trucker Phillip Roberson was on the other end of the line, distraught. He had picked up chicken meat on his regular run May 3, passing through the little town of Rainsville, which had been blasted by the recent tornadoes.
Madison County’s Jody Blackmon, who employs Roberson through B&B Trucking, listened. The Alabama trucker talked of the destruction, the pain in people’s faces.
“He saw this family out in their yard,” said Blackmon. “He saw the foundation of where their house used to be and it bothered him.”
The driver talked of the storm victims’ scorched skin, families afraid to leave their homes for fear of looters. The men, women and children in the small town had huddled together in fear as the angry clouds touched the earth. Many lost their lives. But many of those spared suffered great loss, too. Their homes were pummeled. A week later, they lacked the basics to get clean, to feel full.
Blackmon told the driver to go to Walmart and use the B&B Trucking credit card to “go do what makes you feel right.” The driver hit the store, then went back with a helpful load for the sun-burnt, homeless family.
Blackmon said he felt pretty good about it, then went to bed that night, tossing and turning. Like many others, Blackmon had watched that F4 twister on TV as it headed into Birmingham. The horror of that storm and the destruction it left were stuck in his head.
“I didn’t sleep a wink,” said Blackmon.
The Colbert Baptist Church member thought of his trucking company and all the space in the trailers that could be filled with necessities.
He knew something could be done, that Madison County could step up and help. The next morning, Blackmon’s fitful night of no sleep was answered with the energy of others joining the cause. He soon realized that hundreds would feel the same pang he did, feel that need to help.
Blackmon spoke with officials in Rainsville, who directed him to Chris Hampton, the relief coordinator at Broadway Baptist Church in Rainsville. Hampton provided a list of items that were needed, which would be distributed in Rainsville and the neighboring town of Sylvania, both in northeast Alabama in poverty stricken areas.
Flyers were made. Cell phones rang. Georgia Pacific provided 1,000 boxes for the effort. Keystone Foods donated pallets. Meanwhile, those needed items were rapidly being gathered. Hundreds of people in Madison County churches and beyond got the message and put food, water, toiletries, clothes in their cars. They headed to Colbert Sunday, where one of Blackmon’s trailers was parked in the lot across the road from the city depot.
Blackmon stood in the hot trailer, loading the boxes and looking down at the collection of items that kept growing.
“There were hundreds of people that dropped off things,” said Blackmon. “Traffic was backing up.”
County commission chairman Anthony Dove spoke about the tornado relief effort May 9 at the county BOC meeting, saying he was overwhelmed by the local show of generosity to the Alabama storm victims.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” he said of the mass of donated items. “… I’m proud of the people involved.”
Annette Blackmon said the scene in Colbert Sunday was heartwarming, as people sweated and organized the items into boxes.
“I was impressed with all the people who worked,” said Blackmon. “I was really impressed with the Colbert Baptist Youth. They worked so hard.”
Roger Easterwood and Charles Potts of Colbert Baptist picked up one box after another Sunday, taping them shut.
“We were spared,” said Easterwood of the storm. “But they’re struggling. They have nothing and we have plenty to give.”
The loading lasted about four hours. Blackmon estimated that the trailer contained roughly 35,000 lbs. of products. A crowd was still on hand, helping with the loading as the last items were put on board at dark.
Blackmon hit the road May 9.
When he pulled up to Broadway Baptist Church, he was amazed by what he saw, a massive relief effort, serving thousands of suffering Alabama residents. The numbers for the soup line at Broadway Baptist were 7,000 a day during the first week after the storm. By May 9 that number had dropped to 3,000.
Blackmon said folks at Broadway Baptist were pleased to see the truck pull in.
“The first thing out of his (Hampton’s) mouth was, ‘Wow, you weren’t kidding’ (about bringing a trailer full of items),” said Blackmon.
Blackmon said that television doesn’t do justice to the scene. He said the destruction is overwhelming. He talked with a man whose neighbor had a car thrown through his front door. A nearby high school resumed classes, the roof ripped off the gym. The football team opened spring practice with an overturned trailer still sitting in the parking lot just a couple of hundred yards away, a relic of that terrible day. A newly erected power substation was totally destroyed. A former trailer park offered little evidence of its past existence.
“I can’t imagine a half mile wide tornado coming down Hwy. 72, but that’s what it’s like,” said Blackmon.
Blackmon said he feels Madison County has more to offer to the hard-hit community. He thinks of how the local relief effort began with one of his truckers who couldn’t say “no” to his conscience.
“This started with one truck driver who saw something that upset him,” said Blackmon.
And the chain of empathy led to hundreds of Madison County residents answering the call for help.
Blackmon said the next need in Rainsville and Sylvania will likely be labor, with people needed to literally pick up the pieces. He said he hopes Madison County churches will continue to work together to collect items for the storm victims, adding that another load could be hauled if contacted by churches.
Blackmon said he also wants people to consider having that disaster relief ready before the disaster, so that the next people in need can be helped even quicker.
“Some day we need to have that load ready before the storm hits,” he said.
