#TUPELOSTRONG

This past Monday, a tornado tore through a significantly large portion of my town. Along it's devastating path, that stretched across nearly the entire length of the city, the tornado destroyed numerous neighborhoods and businesses. Over the past couple days, it's been really heartbreaking to walk through the mangled and twisted mess of trees and debris. On the day the tornado hit, we were all taking shelter in the Mabus agency office (Cody's workplace...also owned by our good friends, Josh and Mary Meghan Mabus) a couple miles away, in the downtown area of Tupelo. Downtown wasn't touched by more than rain, thunder, and lightning. So thankfully, we were all safe!

        After the storm passed and the tornado warning was cleared, we set out to assess the damage. Mine and Cody's neighborhood was fine, but Josh and Mary Meghan's did not fair so well.  It wasn't completely demolished but there was a lot of damage. We had to park about a block away and climb through fallen trees and debris to get to their house. People all over the neighborhood just walked around in shock as they discovered the destruction that surrounded them. I have lived in the south for roughly 15 years and I've never experienced the immediate aftermath of a tornado. It was unbelievable. Surreal, even.

I don't have photos of every neighborhood or area that was hit... Some places that we drove through were actually much worse than this... some, I haven't even seen yet. So many people lost everything. So my friend, Josh, and his staff at the Mabus Agency created a website yesterday to link these tornado victims with volunteers eager to help!  

The website is tupelostrong.com. For readers in my area, I urge you to visit and SHARE this website. We've already gotten to see how this website has helped tons of folks, but there's still a lot of people in need. So please share, volunteer, and donate! 

#TUPELOSTRONG