• Shane A. Autrey

Seven Disaster Relief Canteens Mobilized from The Salvation Army in Tuscaloosa, AL

Tuscaloosa, AL – As morning broke, the Salvation Army crews gathered and organized disaster relief efforts for the fourth morning near the Tuscaloosa Airport. After a brief song and prayer meeting, the seven canteens mobilized and were sent out to effected areas.  In addition to the small song and prayer service held at the incident command center, an additional church service will be held at 10 am at the Tuscaloosa Salvation Army Corps (1035 29th St.) despite only having walls remaining after Wednesday’s tornado.

Lt. Jerry Williams, Incident Command Coordinator, wants people in the area to know “We’re on the ground. We were there yesterday, we’ll be there tomorrow and we’ll stay until this disaster ends!”

Seven mobile emergency canteens were dispatched this morning to distribute drinks and foods to disaster victims and relief workers in the affected areas of West and Central Alabama. Mobile disaster canteens were brought in from Selma and Mobile, AL, Jacksonville, Panama City and Ft. Lauderdale, FL and Columbus, MS to aid disaster relief efforts.

The current locations (8:30am) are: The Forrest Lake neighborhood (15th Street and Hackberry), Holt High School, Rosedale and The Downs area (10th Ave and 29th St.), Brookwood (Highway 216 E), New Lexington (Highway 43 N).

Along with distributing food and drinks, they will also collecting monetary donations and disaster relief items of immediate need: Unopened hygiene items, new cleaning supplies, new/unused clothing, bottled water, packaged snack foods, new packs of batteries and new flashlights.

The Tuscaloosa Corps facility and local emergency canteen were heavily damaged in the April 27th tornado, rendering the facility and local mobile canteen inoperable. Mobile Incident Command operations at the Tuscaloosa Airport location are working to manage efforts and set up collection and distribution points around the region. Currently, no donations are being accepted at this location as there is a critical lack of storage and distribution resources.

The best way to help tornado survivors and rescue workers is to make a financial contribution. Monetary donations allow disaster responders to immediately meet the specific needs of disaster survivors.  The Salvation Army asks those who want to help to visit www.disaster.salvationarmyusa.org, text “GIVE” to 80888 for a $10 donation given from your cell phone or call 1-800-SAL-ARMY (1-800-725-2769) and designate their gift "April 2011 Tornado Outbreak."  Checks may be made out to:

The Salvation Army Disaster Relief
P.O. Box 100339
Atlanta, GA 30384-0339