Since I live in Little Rock, I thought I would give a quick update on the situation here from my perspective. The map shows the path of the tornado took through Little Rock in relation to where my family and I were at the time. -Touch down was 1/2 mile from the school my wife teaches at and two of my three sons attend -It missed our church by 300 yards -It missed the hospital where I work by less than a mile -Missed our home by less than a mile. -I-430 and Rodney Parham was the area hit the hardest. This the exit I take when I go home in the evenings. The devastation is incredible. The news is not doing it justice. -My friend lost the office of his law practice, his car in the parking lot was totaled. There are countless hundreds without homes. Friends of ours had their house hit. A tree fell on the back corner of the house destroying the roof and deck. Trees fell on their cars in the driveway, totaling them. I spent all day Saturday at their house chain sawing fallen trees. They had a total of 8 come down. You could not walk on the property. We had to chain saw from the sidewalk through the driveway to the house and then all of the back yard. There were about 75 people there all day working. Our church has become the one of the two primary relief centers in the city as it is across the street from the neighborhoods that were hit the hardest. We are offering immediate relief supplies such as food and clothing. But, one of the greatest needs is helping people find housing who cannot afford it. Our church has set up a relief fund that is going directly to the people in our neighborhood to help with both immediate housing needs and building a fund for helping with future costs of rebuilding. Last night after work, my wife and I along with the kids spent a couple of hours at the church organizing clothing and emergency supply kits that are being given out to the people in the neighborhood. We will be back up there in the evenings doing the same thing later this week. Not sure what this coming weekend will look like, but I imagine I will be going back out with the chainsaw working clean up crews. If you feel inclined you can give money at the link below. Be sure to choose the "Disaster Relief Fund" option in the drop down menu. I can promise you this money is going straight to people right around us that need it. There is no funding the church operations with this money or anything like that. Our regular budget already has that covered. https://pushpay.com/g/pleasantvalleycoc?fnd=XLlmM3isyV5y5sBpTuN4wg&lang=en
Also @PreacherMan76 lives in central Arkansas, I have not met him in person. But, he is not far from Little Rock. Hope he and his family are okay.
