Author: batkinson

Catholic Charities of Tennessee has received numerous offers of help ever since tornadoes devastated parts of Middle Tennessee on March 3. People want to know how they can donate, volunteer, and generally help us help our community recover from the weather disaster. Of course, we are now also working to help the increased number of people in need due to economic hardship brought on by coronavirus-related issues.

Thank you for your prayers of support, your volunteer spirit, and your generous donations. As of today, we have received more than $200,000 in donations. We are humbled that many donors are from out of state, and yet Tennesseans have, of course, been very generous, too. We greatly appreciate receiving all of these much-needed funds.

Catholic Charities of Tennessee will direct these donations toward emergency assistance and recovery efforts through our two main lines of service: case management and counseling.

Case management – a dedicated team is working directly with survivors to assist with urgent, immediate problems for clients, such as eviction prevention, temporary housing, household goods, food, even diapers for babies. (See chart below for more info.) Case managers may refer clients to additional Catholic Charities services, but they will also refer clients to other community/government agencies, as needed or when appropriate.

Counseling – our team of counseling professionals is currently focused on preventing long-term emotional problems that can be caused by traumatic events, such as the tornado or sudden, mass unemployment caused by the threat of coronavirus. Our experience helping survivors after the 2010 flood in Nashville taught us that it can take 18 months or longer for many people impacted by these disasters to recover emotionally. All Catholic Charities counselors are professionals licensed by the state and are experts at helping clients address issues of stress, anxiety, depression, chemical dependency, and much more.

The following chart summarizes the short- and long-term services Catholic Charities is currently or will soon be providing to help survivors recover. This is how your donations may be used:

In addition to our direct services, Catholic Charities is an active member of the area-wide Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD) group, which is coordinating the recovery activities of many nonprofit organizations in Nashville, as well as the Management Agency Housing Taskforce. Catholic Charities either provides services directly, and/or refers people in need to other resources when specific situations require.

Locations for services

• McGruder Family Resource Center (North Nashville: 2013 25th Avenue North, Nashville, 37208)
• Catholic Pastoral Center (Donelson: 2806 McGavock Pike, Door #7, Nashville, 37214)
• Online counseling is available

Catholic Charities also hopes, from time to time, to staff a mobile unit and visit various neighborhood locations. More details will follow in the coming days as needs and locations become identified.

Wendy Apple, a volunteer at First Baptist Church in Putnam County, Tennessee, about 80 miles east of Nashville, described the damage from the March 3 tornado that swept through here, one of seven that swept the region.

“Destruction is so total and the debris so widespread that in many places you cannot even access where someone’s house stood,” she said.

As of March 8, the second Sunday of Lent, the official death toll through the entire region stood at 25.

Cookeville, home to St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, suffered the majority of those fatalities, 18 in all. When NCR interviewed her March 6, Apple had been working at her church’s relief shelter almost nonstop since Tuesday morning.

Her regular church roles include teaching children the Bible and working as the Sunday School secretary. Now she has another job, but with a lot of help as well.

“Countless families and communities, literally thousands from the surrounding areas and states have sent items in, and our fire department has used its vehicles to transport these gifts to places where they can be distributed,” Apple said.

She noted that Tutco, a heating solutions manufacturer and one of Putnam County’s largest employers, was hard hit. The company is using its various resources – including transportation – to reach affected areas that other parties cannot.

Apple said the path of one tornado covered 60 miles in all. As reported by the Nashville Tennessean, another tornado hit Cookeville, a city of about 33,000 people, some 80 miles east of Nashville.

Apple’s family and home suffered no damage, but she told NCR that “it is impossible to sleep when you go home to change clothes and eat, because of all that has happened, but thankfully we have the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church here, which has been a virtual godsend.”

St. Thomas Aquinas Church has provided First Baptist Church and Cookeville residents with food, dry goods, and various infant and children’s needs.

In Nashville, Holy Rosary Catholic Church stands in the Donelson neighborhood, just two miles beyond the immortal Grand Ole Opry venue.

The parish, which has 650 registered families and a school with 328 students, “did not sustain any damage and everyone here came through all right,” Fr. Dan Steiner, pastor, told NCR.

A tornado struck downtown, moved from the West Side to the city’s North End, hitting heavily populated areas of Germantown, Donelson, and Hermitage.

Moving east, the storm struck Lebanon, the county seat of Wilson county, and Mt. Juliet, a suburb of Nashville.

Multiple churches of different faith denominations also suffered damage, as did dozens of houses – many totally destroyed – on the city’s north side.

“I woke up to the sound of sirens and an otherwise eerie silence, one that told me a tornado was coming, and afterwards the next day, we began coordinating our relief efforts by phone,” Steiner said, noting that volunteers have been working from early morning to 9 p.m., often replenishing resources at different sites as the supplies run out.

Steiner noted the importance of helping people during Lent.

“We’re all members in the body of Christ; this is people acting through caring,” he said.

Assumption Catholic Church in Nashville, the city’s second oldest Catholic Church, suffered heavy damage.

“It is the most seriously damaged church of them all, and will be unusable for a period of time,” said Rick Musacchio, director of communications for the Diocese of Nashville. Mass for the parish is being offered at the nearby Monroe Street United Methodist Church.

Mark Cassman, Assumption parishioner, told NCR “our family went to Mass last Sunday, and then woke up at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday to sirens, and the knowledge that a tornado was coming.”

Cassman’s home was untouched – he lives outside of the tornado’s path – and he went to the church immediately to assess the damage.

“I found trees all over the schoolyard, and our roof had been lifted up where it meets the bricks in the walls,” he said.

Volunteers showed up at daylight and worked for six hours. Communication was limited to a Facebook post. Volunteers repeated their marathon efforts again over the next four days, but the widespread damage is still obvious.

“We have gutter and chimney damage; half of one wall is crumbled, and a piece of debris flew in through the solid brick of our sacristy wall, leaving an eight-inch wide hole,” Cassman said.

The churches are trying to address the spiritual damage as well as the physical.

“This Sunday our Mass attendance was less than half, despite our offering services in two places; we figure that a lot of people must have gone elsewhere,” Cassman said.

Fr. Bede Price, pastor, did his best to bolster spirits, Cassman said. “He reminded us that Mass has been celebrated on the battlefields, and in the Roman catacombs, but it has always been held.”

Long-term repairs will probably affect the church’s ability to hold its annual Oktoberfest this fall, the parish’s financial bedrock, and people are worried about the effect of the shuttering on regular offerings and tithes.

Judy Orr, executive director of Catholic Charities of Tennessee in Nashville, told NCR that the recovery problem is “likely to be long-term” and that her organization’s job is just beginning.

“We are working with our affected neighbors to help them get their basic needs taken care off, which is our role at the outset [of every disaster],” Orr said. “We anticipate working with survivors for many months and years to come, through case management and counseling.”

Orr said that “the storm came as people slept around 1 a.m., and was very traumatic; some people had their homes falling on them in the dark, with only minutes of warning at best.”

“Many of the people in the storm’s path are long-time residents of historic neighborhoods close to downtown, and already burdened and challenged in many ways,” Orr noted.

Were you impacted by the Middle Tennessee tornado on March 3, 2020?

Come to a Disaster Assistance Center to access support from multiple agencies at once.
Hadley Park Community Center
Hermitage Community Center
East Park Community Center
Departments represented include:
Metro Codes, Metro Social Services,Humane Association, FEMA registration intake, Public Health, Red Cross, Financial
Empowerment Center, TN Dept of Labor, Metro Action Commission, TN Dept of Human Services

7 days a week : 9 AM t o 6 PM
For updates : www. n a s h v i l l e . g o v
Putnam County DRC
Hyder-Burks Agriculture Pavilion
2390 Gainesboro Grade
Cookeville, TN 38501
Sundays – Wednesdays 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Thursdays 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Fridays – Saturdays 9 a.m.-6 p.m. until further notice
*Opened today, March 11, at 9 a.m.
Davidson County DRCs

*These centers will open Thursday, March 12 at 9 a.m.

East Park Community Center
600 Woodland Street
Nashville, TN 37206
Sundays-Saturdays 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Hadley Park Community Center
1037 28th Ave. North
Nashville, TN 37208
Sundays-Saturdays 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Hermitage Community Center
3720 James Kay Lane
Hermitage, TN 37076
Sundays-Saturdays 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Homeowners, renters, and business owners in Davidson, Putnam, and Wilson Counties who suffered damage as a result of the March 3, 2020 tornado are urged to register with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as they may be eligible for disaster assistance.

There are 3 ways to register:

• • Online: https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4476
  • By Phone: 1-800-621-3362 or TTY 800-462-7585
  • In Person: Visit a Disaster Recovery Center (DRC)

Putnam County Disaster Recovery Center

Hyder-Burks Agriculture Pavilion (2390 Gainesboro Grade, Cookeville, TN 38501)
Sundays – Wednesdays 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Thursdays 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Fridays – Saturdays 9 a.m.-6 p.m. until further notice

Davidson County Disaster Recovery Centers

(1) East Park Community Center (600 Woodland Street, Nashville, TN 37206)
Sundays-Saturdays 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

(2) Hadley Park Community Center (1037 28th Ave. North, Nashville, TN 37208)
Sundays-Saturdays 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

(3) Hermitage Community Center (3720 James Kay Lane, Hermitage, TN 37076)
Sundays-Saturdays 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

[SPECIAL NOTE: The FEMA link also provides information on the Small Business Administration Business Recovery Center to provide information about disaster loans, answer questions, and assist businesses in completing the SBA application.]

Davidson County Business Recovery Center

Jefferson Street Missionary Baptist Church (2708 Jefferson Street, Nashville, TN 37208)
Mondays-Fridays, 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Closed Saturdays and Sundays