realizing disaster

A week day doesn’t go by that I don’t tune in to my favorite morning talk radio show, Ace & TJ.  They have listeners all over the country but their biggest fan base comes from the Southeast which is where they are headquartered.  When I tuned in this morning I was surprised, and in awe, to find that today’s show was not all about the royal wedding but dedicated to raising awareness and money to donate to the victims and recovery of the Southeast Tornado Disaster. 

I have to admit that the first thing on my mind this morning was the royal wedding (as was on the mind of millions of others).  I woke up and turned on the tv as quickly as possible in hopes of catching the exchanging of the vows.  I did and I watched the rest of the coverage as I got ready for work – the royal wedding (and getting to work on time) was the only thing on my mind.  Following my normal routine, once ready, I hopped in the car to head to work and tuned into The Ace & TJ Show.  I was sure that I would be hearing Guenn’s opinion on the big event, but as I said, this wasn’t the case.

I got to work and continued to listen at my desk.  To my surprise, today’s broadcast proved to be a huge eye opener for me regarding the tragedy that just hit our country…and hit so close to home.  Aside from the hosts sharing their insight, the show also included listeners emailing and calling in to share their stories of how they’ve been affected (directly or indirectly) by this disaster.  As an avid listener of The Ace & TJ Show, you somehow feel a part of a family that consists of fellow listeners.  So hearing their stories felt like what I would imagine hearing a close friend tell their story of devastation would feel.  Listening to these experiences was surreal and humbling; I would like to share some in hopes they do the same for you…

An Alabama native called in to share her story of devastation.  Her home wasn’t hit by the tornadoes but some of her co-worker’s homes were.  She and others from the work place spent the last 24 hours going from house to house of fellow employees trying to find everyone.  Needless to say, they found several homes of their friends to be destroyed and their friends missing.  They are still in search to find everyone.

A man in Alabama was riding down the road with his 12 year old daughter and noticed she was very quiet and seemed sad.  He asked what was going on with her.  She responded that she realized the tragedy to hit their area and was saddened by the losses people have suffered.  She then proceeded to open her wallet and take out $217.  The $217 was money she had saved for a year so she could buy an iPod Touch.  She turned to her dad and told him that she wanted to use that money to help the victims.

About 10 minutes later a lady called in barely able to speak through her sobbing.  She was a single mom trying to make ends meet.  She DID have an iPod Touch but had planned to sell it for extra money she needed.  Touched by the previous story, the lady requested to be connected with the little girl because she wanted to give her the iPod Touch.

A listener wrote in to say how touched they were in hearing the stories and donations coming in.  She is currently unemployed and unable to make ends meet on her unemployment check.  She is even behind a month on her car payment.  Wanting to help in some way, she chose to donate the last $9.20 in her bank account.

Another volunteer on site, and dedicated listener, called to share what he was witnessing.  He explained that he still couldn’t take in what he was seeing.  He described it something you would see in Bosnia.  I believe he said she was a member of the military and this was worse than anything he had seen before.  Aside from everything being destroyed, he described fire fighters stopping to take it all in with tears streaming down their face. 

As you can imagine, there are many more stories out there and many people still in search for family member, friends, and neighbors.  The members of the Ace and TJ show, with help from “the radio family”, met their goal of raising $25,000 within 3 hours and set their next goal to $50,000.  I am so grateful and inspired by what they have accomplished.  Had it not been for this morning’s show I probably wouldn’t have felt so compelled to get involved as best I can.  I encourage my readers to please say a prayer and make a contribution to this need, whether it be a monetary donation (even $5 helps – that’s a couple of jugs of water), blood donation, non-perishable food items, or volunteer/labor services, every little bit helps.

Thank you for reading.  Below are helpful links!

CNN: Storm Recovery: How you can help

American Red Cross: Give and Get Involved

Looking for a quick easy way?  Text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10