Saws at your service

The night of April 28, an EF-1 tornado ripped through the town of Kimberly just north of Birmingham. Some of the first boots on the ground providing assistance were members of the 280 community, and the damage they witnessed was significant.

“The Kimberly Church of God had been destroyed and the town’s fire station had been uprooted from its foundation and redeposited in Stouts Road,” said Bob Thompson in an email to Cutters for Christ. “Property owners in the path of the tornado lost roofs, had uprooted trees come crashing through their homes, and trees anywhere near the path of the tornado were snapped off and dropped pick-up-sticks style in yards and across roadways.”

Cutters for Christ is a regional, faith-based coalition composed of disaster response ministries from Riverchase United Methodist Church in Hoover, Clay UMC and representatives from several area Baptist, Lutheran and Catholic churches. Locally, the Asbury UMC Emergency Response Team is an integral part of the organization, and their chainsaws were buzzing in Kimberly fewer than 12 hours after the storm passed.

Meridee Gibson coordinates the Asbury ERT. She said member Boyd Martin founded the group in the wake of the April 2011 tornadoes. On a mission to help those affected by the storms, Martin attended a training class offered by the Methodist church and became chainsaw certified.

“Armed with only a temporary ID card and a chainsaw, [Martin] set out to help those hardest hit by the tornadoes. He continued working independently for more than five months and was the catalyst for Asbury’s response,” the Asbury website reads. 

Gibson said other members of the congregation started to feel his excitement, and over the next few months the ERT grew to nine qualified members and more than 20 volunteer workers. In April, they dedicated themselves for 12 to 16 hours a day helping members of the Kimberly and Adamsville communities reassemble their lives.

“After four consecutive days of work in Kimberly, our CFC teams and the others assisting this community immediately after the tragedy had cleared so much debris that the authorities [considered] asking us not even to return again until the mounding debris piles that have been formed at the curbsides all around town have been picked up and cleared,” Thompson, a member of the Riverchase UMC Disaster Response Ministry, wrote to other CFC volunteers.

Since 2011, the Asbury team and Cutters for Christ have responded to assistance requests from 10 disasters, even traveling as far as Louisiana and Mississippi to lend their saws. Gibson said those helped by the ministry often offer gifts of thanks to the volunteers, but the reward for workers is being able to serve. 

“To me, it’s awe-inspiring work that they do. It’s hard work cutting and moving trees, and it’s hot out there,” Gibson said. “But they get their reward from helping for the cause of Christ.”

If you know of someone who needs assistance or is interested in being part of the team, contact Gibson with the Asbury ERT at gibsonme@bellsouth.net. For more on Cutters for Christ, visit cuttersforchrist.blogspot.com.