How to Give Back to the Victims of the Lee County Tornado

Creator:David Goldman

Credit:AP

Copyright:2019 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

On Sunday March 3, the lives of everyone in Lee County, Alabama were changed forever when an F-4 tornado wreaked unimaginable destruction on the small, tight-knit community of Beauregard. The tornado which killed 23 people is the deadliest in 6 years and the first F-4 to hit in 2 years.

I graduated from Auburn in 2016 and my heart forever stays in Lee County. I owe almost all of my success at Auburn and within my professional career to this place and I truly believe you will not find a more salt-of-the-earth human being than someone from Lee County.

Helpless is the only word I could use to describe how I felt on Sunday afternoon at 2:15 pm. I woke up from a nap to a meteorologist on The Weather Channel declaring a tornado emergency for southern Lee County. I nearly became physically ill when I saw the radar. I knew a large part of the projected area to be hit were trailers. I knew what I saw on radar was something catastrophic that could go in a history book. All any of us could do was pray.

When the storm passed and the daylight quickly slipped away, the magnitude of this disaster became immediately apparent. The coroner and sheriff called upon additional help from agencies all across the state of Alabama, the East Alabama Medical Center cancelled all scheduled surgeries for the following day due to the mass influx of injuries, local citizens ran to the storm site with chainsaws and moving equipment, people took to social media looking for loved ones, missing pets, and possessions, and dozens of people were left trying to piece together what little they had left.

And people responded back with "how can we help?"

The following links are to VERIFIED GoFundMe accounts that support different victims of Sunday's deadly storm. If you feel compelled to help, please do. Each link takes you to different faces with different stories, all in need of our help.

If you are unable to donate via Go Fund Me, donations can be made to financially support Beauregard families via Beauregard High School through the following address:

Beauregard High School Attention: Ms. Alicia Folds 7343 Alabama Hwy 51 Opelika, AL 36804

Please make checks payable to: Beauregard High School and include "Tornado Victim Relief" on the memo line.