wfn.org | Forum participants volunteer time to help tornado victims

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

June 3, 1999 News media contact: Thomas S. McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville,
Tenn.  10-71BP{315}

NOTE:  Photographs are available. This report may be used as a sidebar to
UMNS story #313.  

By Kathy Gilbert*

OKLAHOMA CITY (UMNS) -- The sight was not inspiring: 700-pound crates of
noodles, cans of tuna fish, piles of used clothing and furniture, and
bottles and bottles of water stacked, heaped, and dumped on the ground or in
brown cardboard boxes in a massive warehouse.

Sometimes inspiration, like faith, comes from within.

More than 250 students from the 1999 Student Forum of the United Methodist
Student Movement met the sight with smiles, songs and good humor as they
sorted and boxed donations at the Salvation Army distribution center in
Oklahoma City for victims of recent tornadoes.

"When I saw that mountain of bottled water heaped on the ground in a big
mess, I didn't think we could make a dent in the work," said Giselle Remy, a
student at Princeton Theological Seminary in Columbia, Ga. "It was exciting
to see how we all worked together to get the job done."

Students were divided into work teams. Some opened can after can of tuna
fish to be drained into buckets and made into sandwiches for those left
homeless by the tornadoes. One group sorted bed linens into piles of
pillows, sheets and blankets. Another group had the task of dividing the
700-pound crates of noodles into one-gallon bags. Some students loaded
mattresses onto trucks, and others boxed toiletries, but everyone smiled
through hours of hard work.

"It was rewarding to see how we could help others. It also made me grateful
for the things I have," said Herbert Brisbon, a student at Clark Atlanta
University in Atlanta.

After the work, students were driven through the areas destroyed by the May
3-4 tornadoes.

"Seeing that site was like nothing I had ever experienced," Brisbon said. "I
would challenge anyone to give of themselves to help others who have been
left without anything."

# # #

*Gilbert is a staff member of the Office of Interpretation of the United
Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

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