A Navy veteran whose house was damaged by a tornado in Wisconsin says the assistance from Samaritan’s Purse volunteers he received is “living proof that God exists” as hundreds of volunteers have participated in relief efforts in the hard-hit state, including coming alongside the family of a woman trapped in her basement for hours.
An EF-3 tornado touched down in the vicinity of Appleton, Wisconsin, last Monday, prompting Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to declare a state of emergency in the hard-hit counties of Forest, Outagamie, Vilas and Winnebago.
As explained by the National Weather Service, EF-3 tornadoes have estimated wind speeds of between 136 and 165 miles per hour. Evers’ office listed additional damage caused by the storm system as “hail, power outages, and disruptions to public water systems.”
Multiple faith-based charitable organizations deployed to the state after the storm.
The North Carolina-based Evangelical humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse reported that the tornado “spun through residential neighborhoods for at least 20 minutes, tearing apart homes, uprooting trees, and leaving thousands of families without power before it dissipated over Lake Winnebago.”
A Samaritan’s Purse disaster relief unit, consisting of a tractor-trailer filled with relief supplies and equipment, first arrived in the state Wednesday.
Alliance Church of Appleton is serving as the home base for Samaritan’s Purse’s recovery operations in Appleton as well as the surrounding communities of Menasha and Neenah.
“This morning, we were with a family where the … wife and mother of the family was trapped in her basement for several hours,” Samaritan’s Purse Vice President of North American Disaster Relief Jason Kimak said in an interview with The Christian Post.
“She was on with 911 as the storm was going and … the tornado literally picked the house up and slammed it down off of its foundation and she was stuck in the basement,” he said.
Kimak said the woman, Carla Williamson, had to “have the neighbors come get her out.” While the home has been destroyed and will be demolished, Kimak stressed that Williamson’s family “is so grateful that she’s still alive.”
Navy Veteran Don Wilson, a resident of Menasha, had “several trees that fell along the house and on his house and caused a lot of destruction,” Kimak said.
Grateful for the work that the volunteers did at his house, Wilson reportedly told the charity that the assistance he received is “living proof that God exists.”
“There’s a continued need for cleanup of the trees and debris that fell around the homes. There’s a lot of homes that are probably going to have to go under demolition because they’ve been completely destroyed,” Kimak added.
Kimak estimated that approximately 750 Samaritan’s Purse volunteers have shown up in Wisconsin from at least 23 states. He acknowledged that some of the volunteers are local, and expressed gratitude that “they are coming out as neighbor helping neighbor.”
Kimak anticipates that Samaritan’s Purse will remain in Appleton and the surrounding communities “for the next several days, if not weeks, until all the work orders that we’ve been asked to do [are] accomplished.”
“We were able to take in 160 work orders of people that were asking for us to assist them,” he said. “We’ve assisted multiple people already.”
While much of the work on the ground involves “clearing debris” and helping people “pick up the pieces,” Samaritan’s Purse volunteers are also sharing the Gospel with survivors. Samaritan’s Purse is partnering with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, as is customary when the relief organization ministers to those in disaster areas.
“They have chaplains, the rapid response team. They’ve been trained to work with families who’ve gone through tragedy, whether it’s manmade or natural disaster. And so as we’re doing the work at a home, they come alongside of the work of Samaritan’s Purse, and they sit, and they just spend time with the family and the homeowners. And they’re there … just to listen to their story, to pray with them and then to share the Gospel with the family that we’re working with,” he asserted.
Kimak urged people to pray for these families impacted by the tornado and the organization’s volunteers.
“Pray for emergency management and those local … officials who are having to make decisions for this community and pray that many people come to faith in Jesus Christ,” Kimak said.
The Christian charitable organization Convoy of Hope is also on the ground in Wisconsin. In a statement published Wednesday, Convoy of Hope indicated that it was providing “clean drinking water, hygiene items, cleanup supplies, and boxes of shelf-stable food” to those impacted by the storm.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
