News From Alabama

Sam managed to get these photos to me via her phone...

that's her husband Ben in all the rubble after the storm

I just got off the phone with Samantha...through an absolute miracle, she was able to get a call out to me even though all their cell towers are down. She is fine, they are all safe and staying with her sister who still has electricity which is another miracle in itself. Right now she is basically on auto pilot and doing whatever she can to help their friends and neighbors who lost so much. Their church has been transformed into a shelter as have several other houses that still have power and their entire community is pulling together to help each other...but they need a lot more than that! Just so you know, their community of Pleasant Grove was one of the communities hardest hit by the storm and so many lives were lost there. When I asked Sam what we could all do to help she said anything and everything would be greatly appreciated. Bottled water, snack foods, clean clothes, a bar of soap, anything... she said another great idea would be to send gift cards for either Walmart or Target because a lot of people don't even have access right now to their bank accounts because either the bank is gone or they can't find their wallets with all their  personal information and bank cards. I have an address now of where we can send donations. You can send them to Samantha's Church via their church treasurer, Linda and Sam's dad who is their pastor will see that everything sent gets to the people in their community. So please send anything you can to:
                                       New Life Fellowship
                                       c/o Linda
                                       3519 Gilbert Drive
                                       Hueytown, Alabama
                                       35023

Thank you to everyone who sent me emails wanting to help. Samantha said she was deeply touched by everyone wanting to help them and that she is so blessed to have such an amazing group of friends, even ones she hasn't even met!