Selma, AL – Nov. 17-23, 2024

This week in Selma, we were joined by 6 weekly volunteers… 1 from Minnesota, 2 from The Meeting Place church in Winnipeg, Manitoba and 3 men from Ohio.

The temperatures in Selma were fall-like with 30s at night and 60s-70s daytime highs

We were joined by Kimesha “Sunshine” and her sons Jeremiah and Solomon, for supper on Thursday. See this family’s story below…

Volunteers continued rebuilding and restoring Rosemary’s home. This week’s volunteers did some plumbing in the bathrooms & kitchen and also a lot of mudding, sanding and painted in Macaba’s room. The flooring is done in the kitchen and front rooms. Macaba’s room flooring will be done next week. The windows have not been delivered yet.

We blessed Rosemary with 2 shrubs purchased under the “Mennonite Men Tree Partnership” program. She chose “Yuletide” because of Winter red blooms which were already budding to her delight. The entire team of volunteers attended to see Don Yoder oversee the celebration. Rosemary named the shrubs “Alta” and “Don”

Terence’s home is advancing well. New drywall is on the ceilings… and many gallons of drywall compound was used as the volunteers spent many hours applying and sanding ceilings and walls.

Dorothy’s beautiful front porch received a makeover with minor repair and fresh coat of paint. We completed the tasks approved by UMCOR and the job card should be signed-off soon.

Denis Sabourin, Office Manager

Sunshine’s Story: 

Sunshine (Kemisha) got her nickname when she joined a talk radio show. She told the Selma AL volunteers that story when she ate supper with us on Thursday night. 

She also described how it felt to be in her house when a tornado blew a large Cedar tree on her roof. She was in her bathroom when the tree fell.

“The tornado sounded like a train,” she said. “But all of a sudden there was dead silence.” She thought she had died. When she opened her eyes, she knew she had survived and when she looked up she could see the sky through her roof. Then she thought about her boys. 

Jeremiah is 15; his brother Soloman is eight. They also joined us for supper. Jeremiah said he thought nothing serious was happening until the lights at his school went out. When he went outside he saw the storm had damaged nearby buildings but not the school itself.

Solomon said he and his classmates were directed to the library where they rode out the storm. He was scared and glad when his Mom showed up several hours later to take him home. Not surprisingly, he has had dreams about tornados in the months following.

For a year this family lived with holes in their roof covered by blue FEMA tarps. In February of 2024 Disaster Aid of Ohio put a new roof on their house and did some inside repair work. The final repair work was completed November 15 when we repaired her back porch and steps.

Don Yoder, Project Director