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AU tornado efforts


quietfan

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http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/04/gene_chizik_auburn_players_hel.html

Auburn football coach Gene Chizik spent Thursday night at Radio Music Hall watching Cam Newton and Nick Fairley go in the first round of the NFL Draft. Friday, he and some of his football team were on the ground in the real world, helping tornado victims in Cullman and Pleasant Grove.

The Auburn contingent was approximately 70 strong, featuring coaches, Athletics Director Jay Jacobs and 15 football players. They quietly left Auburn in two buses. What they saw hit home.

"It was devastating. I don't even think you can accurately describe it to somebody the enormity, you have to see it," Chizik said in a statement provided by Auburn. "To see families displaced, lives lost, this is absolutely tragic. We're just trying to give back."

The Auburn contingent cleaned churches, visited distributions center and visited homes, talking to the survivors, according to the university.

"Our message was hope," Chizik said.

Receiver Trovon Reed took in the devastation, similar to what he saw with Hurricane Katrina.

"We saw so many folks without their homes," Reed said. "Katrina was bad, but we had water, but these people here are struggling and don't even have water. From house to house, I saw a whole block that was gone. Being out here helping is a big thing."

Auburn's Student Government Association stayed at home conducting a blood drive for victims. The turnout was so strong that students stood in line for two hours to donate. The SGA said students donated 150 units of blood Friday.

Auburn's football letterman association called on its members to make donations "for our friends in Tuscaloosa."

The Auburn baseball team is wearing a sticker featuring the State of Alabama flag to remember victims while playing its weekend series at South Carolina.

An effort in the Auburn/Opelika area continued to build to help the victims of the storm in Tuscaloosa. Warren Tidwell, who is from Opelika and is one of the driving forces behind Toomer's for Tuscaloosa, said the operation has moved from Facebook to a dedicated website by that name.

He said four trucks will carry needed supplies to Tuscaloosa - including two large diesel-powered ice houses - Saturday.

Tidwell is a veteran of disaster relief, working through a 1998 tornado near Birmingham, and then with Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi. He said he learned how to handle disaster in the 1998 tornado.

"It gave me my first taste of being in a disaster area. After that experience, any time I can help in something like this, I will," said Tidwell. "I'm just random guy running an auto parts shop."

Also, part of a disaster relief program.

"To get the word out is wonderful," Tidwell said.

He said he's been besieged by people interested in helping.

"I've been connected from colleges from all over the country," he said

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I want to thank everybody who has helped the people of tuscaloosa. My apartment was off 10th ave and was completely destroyed and my gf was hurt. She underwent spinal surgery but she is expected to make a full recovery, Please keep her in your prayers. By the way I contacted on facebook by a guy in Steele, AL over 100 miles away and he found my mail in his yard

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I'm really glad your ok rolltide316 and that your girlfriend is alive and got quick help. You probably have lost everything else you had there in your apartment. Are you still at school staying with friends?

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I'm really glad your ok rolltide316 and that your girlfriend is alive and got quick help. You probably have lost everything else you had there in your apartment. Are you still at school staying with friends?

Yes and I'm so thankful for renters insurance because everything will be replaced. I am currently staying with my gfs parents in bham so I can help my gf who is at UAB hospital. and so I can commute to my internship in Montgomery. But after that I ill be staying in cottondale with my brother so I can work during the summer.

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I want to thank everybody who has helped the people of tuscaloosa. My apartment was off 10th ave and was completely destroyed and my gf was hurt. She underwent spinal surgery but she is expected to make a full recovery, Please keep her in your prayers. By the way I contacted on facebook by a guy in Steele, AL over 100 miles away and he found my mail in his yard

Prayers, sympathies, and good vibrations headed your way!

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My prayers go out for all those affected by the storms in Tuscaloosa and elsewhere. Thankfully my relatives in Tuscaloosa were not hit. I was just reading that former Bama player Shannon Brown's daughter was killed in Tuscaloosa. So sad.

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I want to thank everybody who has helped the people of tuscaloosa. My apartment was off 10th ave and was completely destroyed and my gf was hurt. She underwent spinal surgery but she is expected to make a full recovery, Please keep her in your prayers. By the way I contacted on facebook by a guy in Steele, AL over 100 miles away and he found my mail in his yard

WOW! I'm so happy you are ok, and I pray for a speedy recovery for your gf. I spent Sat. near Pleasant Grove helping with distribution of water and MRE's, and I am here to tell you that we are in this thing together and we will do whatever we can to help out.

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My prayers go out for all those affected by the storms in Tuscaloosa and elsewhere. Thankfully my relatives in Tuscaloosa were not hit. I was just reading that former Bama player Shannon Brown's daughter was killed in Tuscaloosa. So sad.

You may remember that Shannon's brother, Steve Brown, played LB for Auburn in the late 80s.

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This is the link to a relief fund I've set up for my girlfriend. She was at my apartment at the time that the tornado hit (Charleston Square). She suffered a traumatic spinal injury from being picked up and thrown by the tornado. She underwent an 8 hour surgery on her spine last Thursday at UAB NICU. We have been told by doctors to expect full mobility although it may take time. Right now she has full mobility except for her left leg, which she has very little movement. We are hopeful that once the inflammation around the spine goes down, she should regain mobility. Although we are very optimistic, we know it may take a very long rehab for her to get back to "normal". I ask that you keep her in your prayers.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chelsea-Thrash-Medical-Relief-Fund/211741958851186

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