TULSA, Okla. — A “double whammy” is what a Tulsa pastor calls a theft at his church, followed by tornado damage just days later.
On March 17, a downtown Tulsa ministry stepped up to help clean up the mess.
The sound of pieces of fencing coming down filled the air at Wesley Chapel on March 17.
A group of 37 people, ages 11 to 63, used their Spring Break to give back.
“We’re cleaning up some debris that they faced during the storm,” said Blake Broadhurst.
Blake Broadhurst is the youth ministry director at First Methodist Church Tulsa. When he learned that the place Tulsa Youthworks calls home needed help, his group stepped up right away.
“To come down here and see stuff like their fence being completely torn down was pretty heartbreaking, honestly,” said Broadhurst. “This is how they wanted to spend their spring break, so I think that’s really special and says a lot about them.”
Co-founder of Youthworks and Pastor of Wesley Chapel, Chris Beach, says students built that fence 17 years ago. Earlier this month, he says a tornado left it in bad shape.
“We had our fence all torn down,” said Chris Beach. “We had the pizza factory's flat roof torn down. We had windows smashed out. We had our trampolines thrown into the neighborhood and crushed, and we still can’t find one of them.”
It wasn’t just the storm damage. Two days before, a thief took off with copper from their air conditioning unit, leaving it useless.
“We had a double whammy,” said Beach.
As the volunteers work to pick up the pieces, Beach is asking the community for more help. He says the goal is to keep the 200 kids they serve each year in school and active in their community.
“Our kids love serving the community, so it’s pretty awesome when the community comes back and serves them,” said Beach.
Beach says the deductible for the A/C unit is $5,000. To help with that or any of the other storm damage, click here.
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