How you can help
Below are several ways to donate to the relief effort for Oklahoma tornado victims:
The American Red Cross
Online donation: www.redcross.org
Call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767)
1-800-257-7575 (Español)
1-800-220-4095 (TDD)
Salvation Army
Online donation: www.salvationarmyusa.org
Call 1-800-SAL-ARMY
Habitat for Humanity
Online donation: www.habitat.org
Send a text to help
Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile customers can make a $10 donation by texting the numbers listed below:
Text the keyword REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief
As soon as Amanda Jones saw the wreckage on TV, she texted in a donation. But that just wasn’t enough.
By Tuesday morning, she was calling friends to donate canned food, urging people on Twitter and Facebook to contribute, and convincing her boss to turn his two funeral homes into collection sites for donated goods. In the end, he volunteered to drive the stuff to Oklahoma in his motor home.
“We want this to be huge,” said Jones, who lives in Dahlonega. “We want to drive supplies out there and make a present.”
Similar scenes are playing out all over Georgia, as people respond to Monday’s tragedy by offering donations, prayer and volunteer labor.
In fact, professional disaster managers — while clearly energized by the swiftness and scope of the response — cautioned untrained volunteers not to venture into the disaster zone.
As search and rescue efforts continued Tuesday, groups such as the Red Cross dispatched experienced scouts to assess the needs.
Ann Foote of Atlanta, a volunteer sent by the local Red Cross, said she expects to reach the tornado site today. This will be the 19th disaster deployment for the 67-year-old retired credit analyst, who will help coordinate teams of volunteers on the ground.
“I feel like I’m in a position to do something to help a community in crisis,” she said.
Even when more volunteers are called in, authorities say they do not want untrained and unsupervised people walking around with chainsaws.
“If you’re an untrained, unsolicited volunteer, I wouldn’t suggest you go in there,” said Ken Davis, spokesman for the Georgia Emergency Response Agency. “Go and get trained, and you’ll be ready for the next one.”
That presented a challenge to Billy Rowell, a 46-year-old fork lift operator in Villa Rica who wants to use his vacation time this week to help. He once lived in Oklahoma and saw tornado damage up close. He helped people go through rubble trying to find things they couldn’t replace, and he even once helped an old man out from under a fallen beam.
Beyond feeling useful, Rowell said he likes the small-town feeling that emerges when people come together to help. But he was having trouble figuring out precisely how to help — despite a willingness to do anything he can.
“Whatever they need,” he said.
The Southern Baptist Convention’s disaster relief group, which has several thousand trained volunteers in Georgia, began planning Tuesday to send teams to Oklahoma. Several volunteers gathered at the organization’s Alpharetta headquarters to load a tractor-trailer with pallets of bottled water and big rolls of roofing tarps.
“Oklahoma Baptists have a pretty large disaster relief volunteer operation, but they’ve already said they are going to need some extra help for this one,” said Mike Ebert, spokesman for Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. “The devastation is so massive.”
At this point, the best thing people who are not trained can do is “pray and give,” he said.
That’s just what the parishioners did last night during a prayer service at Oak Grove United Methodist Church in Decatur. They lit candles, sang songs and offered prayers for the victims of the tornado and other recent storms that struck the Midwest.
“As much as we can, we are with them,” said Madge Watson, 68, of Atlanta. “I have a great belief in prayer. It reminds us that even in tragedy, God is with us.”
The tornado created a special kind of draw for storm chasers, including 18-year-old Matt Coker of Atlanta. A student of atmospheric science at Kennesaw State University, he was especially intrigued that another large tornado had struck the same area in 1999.
He’s planning to head out to Oklahoma with several other storm chasers this weekend. But researching the storm is only part of what he will do. He is also a trained volunteer with the Red Cross.
“When people get hurt, you start helping,” he said.
For Jones, who works at the Dahlonega Funeral Home, it was the images of the flattened elementary schools that touched the tenderest nerve.
“I am a mother. I have a 7-year-old,” she said. “I can’t imagine what it’s like for those parents.”
Her son, Dockery, asked about the tornado, and when she told him what happened, he said, “That’s very sad.”
Then Jones took the opportunity to talk to her son about what he should do should a tornado strike their community.
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