The recovery from this week’s devastating tornadoes was in full swing in Spalding County Saturday afternoon, and the parking lot of Griffin Center Point Church was ground zero for those needing life’s basic necessities.
That’s where a massive grass roots relief operation was under way, as a steady stream of donors dropped off everything from food and water to clothing, diapers and toiletries, volunteers sorted out the donations and those affected by the storms came in for assistance.
Roxanne Watkins, whose trailer was among those damaged at the Ponderosa Mobile Home Park in Griffin, stopped at the church to pick up some much-needed supplies.
“This is a blessing,” Watkins said. “There are so many people that need it. The community’s coming together and it’s just amazing.”
Watkins said she had stopped at the church for “stuff for the kids – shampoo, conditioner, toiletries – and the main things, water, Gatorade, stuff like that.”
“Anything you need, y’all come back and we’ll hook you up,” one of the volunteers shouted to Watkins as she pulled away.
For those victims unable to get to the church, other volunteers were delivering truck loads of food, water and other supplies to the hardest-hit areas about an hour south of Atlanta, said Tracy Stone, the church’s senior pastor.
“On Thursday, we started with crews in the field with chainsaws, removing trees from our members’ houses, and realized the severity of the storm, so then we said, okay, we need to become a major operation,” Stone told the AJC.
Stone said that he serves on the board of directors of “God’s Pit Crew,” a nationwide relief organization. He said he got on the phone, and had 80,000 pounds of bottled water, Gatorade, food and other supplies delivered to the church by God’s Pit Crew on Thursday alone.
Donations have continued to pour in ever since.
“We’re coordinating people with furniture and housing, and we’ve turned the second floor of our church into a hotel,” Stone said. “We have a trailer out front they can take showers in.”
He said that in addition to Griffin, God’s Pit Crew is providing disaster relief in Tennessee and in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
“It’s all faith based,” he said. “There’s no red tape, there’s no zip code check, and it’s all free, done by the love of Christ.”
He said the church, which is at 1427 U.S. 41 Bypass South in Griffin, will be distributing supplies from 1 to 6 p.m. on Sunday and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday.
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