For the past few months the Saint Louis community has been recovering slowly from the large EF3 tornado that hit the area on May 16th. On May 16th the tornado hit the Greater Saint Louis area, killing a large number of people and injuring many. Churches like Grace and Peace Fellowship, Central Presbyterian , and Memorial Presbyterian were damaged in the storm.
Many organizations such as Restore Saint Louis, and the Red Cross have been helping certain churches in the area recover the neighborhoods around them. Restore Saint Louis has been working in North City and the West end of Saint Louis to repair the damage that was done by the tornado. Outreach tents in the Saint Louis area have been helping the community with food and supplies they may be needing.
In the chaotic moment that was the end of school for many, and a tragic day, for others. Many people were faced with the challenging reality of the expense of repairs to historic building that may never be restored. Insurance companies cannot afford to provide the historic buildings the money to repair the ornate structure the Saint Louisian architects built almost 150 years ago.
John Sara, an upper school art teacher at Westminster talks about how the tornado affected him and others in his neighborhood, “Those last 30 minutes of the last day of school, May 16th It took us about two hours to get home that day just because everything was such a disaster. and I actually never came back to school. Our house was kind of right along the center of the path, so our whole neighborhood has a lot of damage. The first couple weeks were kind of the most difficult, just trying to secure our house and then help our neighbors, their houses and clear our street and all that sort of thing. But in the midst of all of that, we had some pretty tremendous help.”
In the West End of Saint Louis there were many people forced to relocate after the tornado due to the amount of damage done to their homes or apartments, luckily the Saras were able to stay in their house.
Many apartment buildings were caught in the path of the tornado, and it left the landlords overwhelmed not knowing what to do. Many people who were renting those apartments were not given any assistance by the insurance company because the damage was so severe. Tarps and planks of wood can still be seen on the roofs of buildings, due to the fact that repairing roofs is very expensive.
Courtney Dey, a parent at Westminster, speaks on how her job at Grace and Peace Fellowship has helped the community “So the day after the tornado, we were all just kind of stunned, and nobody really knew how bad the damage was. The day after that we started a tent, and that was coffee in the morning. We had lunch in the afternoon, and then we went walking through the neighborhoods to see if we could help at all. Many of those people were very upset, but also so a cup of coffee is really a help. But it does give somebody who’s had a tragedy happen to them a little bit of comfort. And we ended up getting people who would who just wanted someone to hear their story. So we did a lot of listening.”
After losing a lot of property, and being very scared of what the future could hold for them, the neighbors of Grace and Peace Fellowship were very grateful to have someone listen to them and treat them with kindness. People were really overwhelmed with the amount of damage that was done, and the repairs were not something that could be completed in a matter of weeks. It was going to be a while before people could even drive through the streets, because most of the trees had fallen.
Mrs. Dey had many volunteers from her church and the community help serve hot dogs and hamburgers at lunchtime, and snacks all throughout the day. They walked around with bags of chips, fruit, sandwiches, and a cooler of water to give out to the workers and people who were working hard on their houses. They offered prayer and encouragement for the people in this hard time.
Mr. Sara shares about the restoration going on in his neighborhood, “ I’m an optimist, so I always think things are going to get better. We’ll see, I also feel like it’s going to take a while, even in our immediate neighborhood. Because there are so many properties that basically look abandoned now, especially multifamily dwellings or apartment buildings. And you know, our fear is that those places won’t be repaired, because that would be a difficult thing for the neighborhood to have those structures empty. But I’m just hoping that people step up and are able to do the work, but because we’re all waiting right now, it’s hard to tell the difference between things that have been abandoned and things that they’re just waiting for a contractor to show up.”
As the community is waiting for work to be finished on the houses and buildings, they need prayers and encouragement from us. Natural disasters are things that cannot be prevented, but we as humans have the responsibility to help our brothers and sisters afflicted by these disasters.
