Tragedy

My husband got a call around 10:00 the night of the 13th saying that the elementary school in the school district that he works for was on fire. This was the first picture we received.

Jordan quickly dressed and left. It's about a 40 minute drive for him, so by the time he got there the school was fully engulfed. There were 11 fire depts and over 100 fire fighters. I had taken a personal day the next day to prepare for my mom's birthday party that I was hosting. And it's a good thing because I could not go to sleep that night nor focus the next day. By 3 am the school was a total loss. Jordan lost electricity at his school's cafeteria so he was working into the morning hours moving food over to a freezer with a generator. After he finished he was able to get a couple hours of sleep at a friend's house right next to the campus.

Photo by Cathy Nance

I talked to Jordan on the phone early the next morning when I found out the most tragic news that came of the fire. The school that burned housed the community's food pantry, as well as the backpack program for the kids who wouldn't otherwise receive meals at home. The pantry was FULL because the children got out for Christmas break on the 19th. Backpacks were going to be sent home and families could come stock up for their Christmas meal....and all of that is now gone.

It really put things into perspective for me. I took the day off to cook and make sure everything was just perfect for my mom's party and while I still did that, the first priority that day was getting the ball rolling on letting our community (remember we live 40 mins away) know what had happened and what we need to do to help.

Photo Source Unknown

My sweet husband came home to shower and change clothes and the 5 mins that he was in the shower was the only time he wasn't on the phone. We had administrators calling from my school district, police officers, local charities....it was amazing. By that night I already had lots of food delivered to my garage.

That afternoon was when I heard about the school shooting in Connecticut. And it put everything in perspective for me....again. While it was tragic that the school went up in flames and the food pantry was gone, no lives were harmed. Thank God. Our community and communities in the surrounding areas stepped up and helped to replenish the food pantry and backpack program. By Wednesday they had plenty of backpacks filled and ready to send home for Christmas vacation and the food pantry was restocked for families that need it. We are so thankful for the generosity that was shown. God is good.