Tennessee Volunteers

WARNING: this is an extremely long post, so happy reading!

The south feels like home, specifically Tennessee. When I arrived in Chattanooga at 5 a.m. and stepped out of my car and the humidity caressed my face; when the first person greeted me and said “hi” in that gentle rolling lilt that makes “Hi” sound like it has two syllables it brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat. That could also have been the fact that I had not slept for over 24 hours, aside from catnaps on the planes! I lived in Collegedale for four and a half years at the stunning campus of Southern Adventist University where I attended nursing school. I met my best friend there, met people that I call family and whom I have the privilege of joining every other Thanksgiving for a rip-roaring good time; we’ve also shared spring breaks, weddings, babies and road trips. It was where I was able to heal after the death of my sister; where I found my calling of nursing and where I left a piece of my heart and soul. Part of me would move back to Tennessee in a heartbeat. I love the state, I love the people, I LOVE the food and I love this opportunity to help during such tragedy.

As I logged each leg of the journey – two layovers and two plane changes – my heart beat faster with anticipation of seeing friends, excitement for helping and putting action behind my words and a feeling of coming home. As I prepare to go back to school for my Masters I have decided that what I want to do is anything related to activism – human rights, care of our planet, health and wellness, women and children, etc. While I have not decided on a final path of activism, I want to put my feet in the field and start helping out wherever I can. I feel so privileged and blessed that things fell into place with work and with our finances that I was able to travel to Tennessee and help out in a small way.

Tennessee Day 1

Due to unforeseen circumstances of plane delays and such craziness, I did not arrive in Chattanooga until 5 a.m. Saturday morning. I could not find a hotel that was not full and ended up stopping at the dorm, sleeping on a mattress with my neck pillow for traveling and a throw from the dean’s couch for four hours. I went to Tim and Emily’s for a quick shower and some breakfast before hitting the ground running. My first stop was to check in on some people with significant health needs staying at Southern’s dorm and see if there was anything they needed. After spending some time helping them out I grabbed some lunch and then headed out to Apison, TN, where the tornado had caused significant damage and total loss to many homes. I spent several hours sorting through someone’s home, belongings and life. We separated burnable items from trash, metal and things that might be salvageable. I felt like I would work on one little section, turn around and you couldn’t tell anything had been done. It was so overwhelming…

I finished out the evening by checking in on the residents at Southern again and making sure they were tucked in for the night. Then I fell into bed and laughed myself to tears with my bestie Miss Nikki!!

Tennessee Day 2

Started off by checking in on the residents again and making sure they were o.k. Spent most of the morning and afternoon working to help make sure people had medications, gas cards, BP monitors and other medical supplies. Once everyone was all settled I said my goodbyes and made one last round. I then had to wave farewell to Tommy, Sandy and Nikki as they headed back to Nashville. In the evening, Tim and I went up to a different area of Apison and helped clear debris from around one house. It felt like we had cleared out so much, but as we drove away our view filled up again with the hundreds of trees still needing to be cleared. Again, so overwhelming…

Random moment: Tim and I were looking through pictures and videos of the devastation and realized that I had watched a video on Facebook of the man whose house I had worked at on Saturday. I wanted to show how much progress can be made in such a short time. The video link was posted 1-2 days after the tornado hit, the next picture is 9 days later and the last picture is 11 days later.
Video: watch it here.


Tennessee Day 3

I started off the morning early and Emily was so sweet to drive me around looking for people that needed help. We stopped at several places, but most of the places we first stopped at had insurance adjusters out and were in a wait-and-see mode; then we drove back down to the valley. Apison – the majority lived in trailer homes or hand built houses, had no insurance and lived at or below the poverty level. The help needed there is never-ending; however, most people we talked to would say, “We’re fine; go find someone else who really needs help”. Emily dropped me off at the spot I had been working at on Saturday and I was shocked to see how much work had been done and it really invigorated me to see all the progress. I drove around with another group and had the pleasure of meeting Bobby Elliot – this kind hearted giant of a man whose house was still standing (amazingly!!), despite the trailer next to his house being utterly smashed. We walked to the back part of his property and started clearing debris from an area where a trailer home had been thrown from behind a hill and been obliterated as it smashed into the ground. As Bobby and I worked he pointed to some blue gloves and a tourniquet on the ground and asked if I knew what they represented; he then told me the story of the hours after the tornado blasted through Apison. They had gone to the backside of his property looking for people and at the damage, all you could hear were the sounds of big machines, people yelling, chainsaws and the wind; all of a sudden someone yelled, “Everyone quiet, I thought I heard something”. A hush fell over the hill and a small moan was heard, they found a 9-year old boy, the sole survivor of his entire family. Working alongside that spot, in the boiling heat of the sun and the searing heat of the fire, I thought about what it would be like to lose my ENTIRE family, home, possessions and nearly my life. It was a very sobering day to end my time in Tennessee on.

Final thoughts

I made it home… getting to Tennessee was ridiculous and I ran into many road blocks; there were frustrations while in Tennessee of feeling so helpless and unable to help as much as I wanted; there were challenges getting home of delayed flights and lost luggage. There were friends to greet me when I arrived, a roof over my head each night, a comfortable bed to sleep in, food to eat, a husband to kiss when I stepped off the plane, another roof over my head, a bed to sleep in and my things in hand within 24 hours. Bottom line though, I had a home and family to come back to. I heard so many stories of loss, stories of love, stories of pain and stories of kindness. It will take a long time for the humidity, heat, smells of smoke and rotting wood, sounds of chainsaws, heavy machinery and hollers to leave my head, skin and soul. I loved every minute that I was in Tennessee and felt so honored to work alongside the people who were there much longer than I was and will be there for much longer than I was able to be. The work will continue, homes will be repaired and rebuilt, the trees will grow back and life will move on. My heart aches for Tennessee, but after seeing that small spot cleaned up and ready for a trailer or home to be built on again gives me hope. Hope is what will keep the communities in Tennessee, and the other areas hit by the tornados and now floods, united and thriving.