OBI President Bill Horan, left, and Jody Herrington, middle, meet with Pastor Tony Peaks of Open Door Church in Suffolk, Va., to discuss the needs of tornado victims.

SUFFOLK, Va. - In the nearly 30 years Open Door Church has been in existence, Pastor Tony Peaks has never seen a disaster quite like this.

"It looked like someone took a 100-ft. bulldozer and drove through those houses. I've never seen anything like that," Peaks said.

Late Monday afternoon, 3 tornadoes ripped through southeastern Virginia, injuring at least 200 and destroying homes, properties and cars in their path.

Pastor Tony and a team of church volunteers immediately went out into the community to help victims and assess the needs. Three families in their church lost their homes and have been relocated to temporary housing.

"It was like chaos and being paralyzed all at the same time," Peaks said. "It smelled like a wet day at the dump."

OBI and partner Mercy Chefs have a mobile kitchen unit on-the-ground at Open Door Church and have prepared more than 1,000 meals to date for emergency personnel.

Operation Blessing delivered a truckload of drinks to the church and has set up a mobile kitchen unit, provided by partner Mercy Chefs. More than 1,000 meals were prepared for distribution to disaster relief workers and emergency responders.

Mercy Chefs previously partnered with OBI for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in New Orleans.

OBI is also partnering with the American Red Cross of Southeastern Virginia to coordinate delivery of the meals to key sites such as the local emergency operations center, firehouses and temporary shelters.

Later this week, construction loaders and OBI volunteers will be on standby to assist victims with clean up and debris removal. OBI staff and church members will be available to help residents with work order request forms at Open Door Church.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can help by making an online donation toward OBI's disaster relief efforts. With your support, we can continue to provide emergency relief and recovery. Please make an on-line donation today.

 

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