wfn.org | Day care center perseveres through storm, cleanup

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

April 24, 1998     Contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
{251}

NOTE:  This story can accompany UMNS #249 and #250.

By Cathy Farmer*

NASHVILLE (UMNS) -- The policeman blocking the ravaged street understood
when the frantic woman threatened to run over him.

"Move," she yelled out the car window, her large dog barking excitedly
beside her. "If you don't move, I swear I'll run over you. My 2-year-old
daughter is in there somewhere and I'm going to find her." 

That was East Nashville after two giant tornadoes ripped through the
community on the afternoon of April 16 -- frightened parents desperately
seeking their children, elderly residents paralyzed by the fear that
their roofs would collapse, streets choked with uprooted trees and
debris torn from nearby houses.

The officer stepped aside and waved the woman through. She drove around
trees and over lawns until she reached her goal, Holly Street Day Care,
a cozy neighborhood institution entrusted with 115 children from infants
to 12-year-olds.

Other parents arrived at about the same time, many on foot because of
the traffic jams. They found the infants to 4-year-olds in the darkened
ground-floor level of the day care's "red building," quietly singing
with their teachers.

"They were singing, 'If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands'
and anything else their teacher could think of  to keep them calm," said
preschool director Karen Stump. 

Not a single child at the preschool was injured, but the tornado
uprooted a giant tree on their playground and threw it on the jungle
gym. 
"Some of the older children weren't in the basement," Ms. Stump said.
"We were in the building next door. We watched the trees falling. I told
the kids to just pray. 'You know about prayer,' I said." 

One reason the children knew about prayer is that many of them attend
East End United Methodist Church with their parents. The church is about
a block away from the center.

"The preschool is an evangelism center for us," said Becky Waldrop, wife
of East End's pastor, Mike Waldrop. "We have a high percentage of young
people and children here because of Holly Day Care."

Before the tornado, Holly Street Day Care used East End for dance
recitals and staff meetings. A week after the tornado, the preschool
still leaned on the support of the United Methodist Church. The
generator providing power to the building and the chest full of ice came
from the United Methodist Committee on Relief. 

"Oh, we're back in business now, thanks to United Methodists," Stump
said. "But we've decided we're not going to do Thursdays any more."

With a rueful laugh, she pointed at a huge cherry picker wedged tightly
against the light pole and stop sign in front of her building. On the
same day a week earlier, the tornado had torn through the schoolyard.
The cherry picker was one of  the countless trucks involved in the
cleanup and recovery effort. 

"That machine came roaring down the street this morning, completely out
of control," Stump said. "At first we thought the driver had gone crazy.
The crane was swinging back and forth across the street. But it turned
out that the machine had lost its hydraulics."

Alert teachers quickly shepherded the children out of the yard and back
into the building. The runaway cherry picker picked up speed as it
careened down the hill. The only barrier between it and the school
building was one of the rare light poles spared by the tornado. The
driver was able to guide it into the pole, and the pole held. Now the
huge machine listed just outside the fence.
.
"No," Stump repeated with a sigh, "we're just not going to do Thursdays
anymore."

# # #

*Farmer is communications director for the Memphis Conference of the
United Methodist Church.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/