By Pam Griffin
Mission Love Seeds is on the move again.
The faith-based organization in Destin is collecting supplies to help tornado victims in Eclectic and the surrounding areas in Elmore County, Alabama, as they try to piece their lives back together after a violent line of tornadoes raced through the area last week.
“We can’t control when and where tornadoes strike, but we can control how we respond,” Barbi Carroll-Hawbaker, founder of MLS, told The Log.
MLS responded in Pearlington, Miss., in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina, when Destin residents donated more than 200 huge truckloads of supplies and furniture to help put lives back together. They also helped in Haiti after the earthquake.
“Now, let’s show Alabama what a giving community Destin is,” Carroll-Hawbaker said.
Humanitarian photographer and Destin resident Earl Baumgardner witnessed first-hand the devastation caused by this EF-4 tornado, on the ground for more than 15 miles in the Lake Martin area of Central Alabama. Six people died in Elmore County, including two in the Lake Martin area.
“Personally, the mother and aunt of a good friend of mine died in the tornado,” Baumgardner told The Log. “We arrived late that night to try to find the cabin (near Lake Martin). The area was completely unrecognizable and we searched most of the night and could not find the cabin as it was completely blown away.”
Alice Herren Lee and Becky Herren Woodall, two Tallassee sisters, died in that cabin.
Mission love Seeds is now collecting non-perishable food, breakfast bars, snacks, Gatorade, cleaning supplies, flash lights, batteries, needles and thread, tarps, pillows, light weight blankets, wash clothes, towels, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant and other personal hygiene items, wipes, Neosporin, bandages and other first aid supplies, children and adult diapers, diaper cream, baby powder, baby formula, laundry detergent, detergent, toiletries, heavy duty trash bags, chain saws, insect spray, new under clothing for men, women and children, school supplies and sunscreen.
Cash donations are also needed to help with expenses for large truck rentals and fuel to deliver the supplies to Alabama.
“We have been asked to please not bring water or clothing at this time since there are hundreds of thousands of bottles of water and piles and piles of clothing already on the ground in the area,” Carroll-Hawbaker said.
Mission Love Seeds will work closely with the families in Elmore County.
“The needs will change on a daily basis, much like what happened during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,” Carroll-Hawbaker said. “We will begin asking for everything to help set up homes, ranging from dishes to furniture, in the near future.”
The mission is also in need of a warehouse or storage space for about the next six months where donations can be stored until a truckload is ready to take to Alabama.
“We want to get going as quickly as we can and get the donated items to those who need them,” Carroll-Hawbaker said.
For more information or to make donations, contact Carroll-Hawbaker at 850-865-1055, John Hawbaker at 850-865-6161, email missionloveseeds@cox.net or visit missionloveseeds.org.
This article first ran in The Destin Log.
