Signal Mountain Baptist Church is assembling a team of 15 college-age youth and adults to travel to McDonald Chapel, Ala., to assist with tornado disaster relief work. The group will work from July 28-31.
Located near Birmingham, the McDonald Chapel community was devastated by violent tornadoes in 1956, 1998 and 2011.
“The McDonald Chapel area was hit hard by the tornadoes,” said Signal Mountain Baptist minister of education and missions Sally Ensley. “Eighty homes were damaged and about half still need work. We will go with a national organization, Volunteers of America, that will line up work for us. We will work on cleanup and repairs in the community.”
She added that McDonald Chapel was a poor community to start with, so the tornado aftermath has made things more challenging.
While there, she said the team will sleep on cots in a church gym and use a shower trailer.