I haven’t talked about relief for tornado survivors in awhile. But that’s not because I haven’t been thinking about it. A Facebook friend of mine, Chasidy Estes (who is married to the reason I had to take Algebra II twice in high-school– her husband is hilarious and distracting) and her sister-in-law Chelsea South have started a program in Jasper, AL called Shoeboxes for Kids.
They are collecting shoe boxes, or similar containers, full of happies for the children of Cordova. Cordova is a small town on the outskirts of Jasper that was hit really hard by the tornadoes on April 27th. According to a report by WKRG news 90% of the town’s infrastructure was destroyed when they were hit by an ef-3 and an ef-4.
Tornado advances towards Cordova. Image via justpiper.com. Copyright 2011 www.countynews49.net.
One of hundreds of pictures of the devastation in Cordova. Image via al.com
Last week, Cordova’s elementary and middle schools held a balloon release ceremony for two brothers who were killed during the second tornado. The boys were 10 and 12 years old and their classmates didn’t even know about their funerals in enough time to attend due to the fact that the area was completely without power for 10 days after the storm. Chasidy’s goal is to have a shoebox for EACH child at Cordova Elementary. They have 224 boxes and need 163 more.
It may not be much, but to a child who has lost everything, including a friend, it’s enough to make them smile for a moment. And that is something worth working toward.
Click HERE to read an article about Shoeboxes for Kids in The Daily Mountain Eagle.
Email Chasidy at shoeboxforkidswalkercounty@gmail.com for information on how you can give. The drop off location and mailing address for any supplies you might send is: 52 N Walston Bridge Road, Jasper, AL 35501. They are not currently a 501c3 but you can give to their PayPal account and Chasidy and Chelsea will mail you a receipt for the supplies they bought in your name: to make a payment to their account enter 2054713038 on the PayPal site.