“How did you find us?” asked Tommy. “It feels like everyone has forgotten about us.”
The Salvation Army had pulled over at his farm in Lenox, Alabama, after traveling eight miles along a dirt road that had been very recently cleared of storm debris. Hurricane Isaias had uprooted trees that had stood for decades. Others lay across power lines.
“My neighbor’s roof is in my yard,” Tommy said. “They lost everything.”
His family had weathered the storm, but its severity caught them off guard. His son recalled the front door of his home buckling under the force of the wind. “I don’t scare easily, and I was scared,” he said.
Now, Tommy was confronting what came next. “I can’t believe I’m going to have to rebuild everything I’ve worked so hard to build.”
Still, he was grateful to God that his family was safe. “They are my whole world, right there,” he said, pointing to his family.
Across Lenox, a small rural community in Conecuh County, families are gathering what remains of their possessions. Many said they don’t know where to start.
Small rural communities can be among the hardest to reach after a storm and the last to have power restored. The Salvation Army’s smaller Rapid Response Unit helps bring food and supplies into these areas. Lenox residents said they could be without electricity for weeks, leaving families who depend on wells unable to pump safe, clean water into their homes.
Neighbors texted friends and family and posted on the community Facebook page. Soon, people arrived in trucks, cars, side-by-sides, on four-wheelers, and even on foot.
Many collected supplies for others. One man picked up food for his 85-year-old neighbor. Another gathered supplies for a couple whose husband is homebound and whose wife could not leave him to seek help.
Throughout the day, The Salvation Army distributed 384 ready-to-eat meals, more than 240 drinks, more than 600 snacks, and cleanup kits. Neighbors carried supplies home and delivered them to those who could not make the trip.
There was still so much ahead. But for that day, families had something to eat, water to drink, and one less worry to carry.
As neighbors gathered their supplies, they asked, “Will you be here tomorrow?”
“Yes, we will.”
Lenox is not forgotten.
