Resources for tornado victims are available at Powers Chapel Church

Power’s Chapel Church is hosting a distribution center for tornado victims in their fellowship hall, located on Fairview Road in Bremen. They are open to serve those who were displaced by the Dec. 11, 2021 tornado and have a variety of things for those in need.

Items in the distribution center have all been donated for tornado relief, and are organized along shelves and on tables so storm survivors can shop for things they are in need of. There is dry food items, toiletries, linens and towels, clothing and new shoes.

As people begin to find housing, volunteer Vivian Stobaugh-Clark said the need for housewares has increased. “We have a lot of housewares, like pots and pans, and dishes. They are needing those things now,” she said.

The distribution center is manned by volunteers who keep it open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. If there is something not available at the center, the helpful staff can likely find it.

As one storm survivor grabbed a few items his family was in need of, volunteers chatted with him to see what else he might be in need of. Their conversation turned to housing, and he told them about being evicted by his landlord of five years. By the end of the visit, a volunteer was able to pass along numbers of a few people with housing for rent.

It is this type of service the volunteers at Powers Chapel are able to provide. Several of them are also trained to be caseworkers for the Muhlenberg County Long Term Disaster Planning Committee. This provides them with the latest information on programs and agencies ready to help.

Stobaugh-Clark said she encourages people to come and take food items, even if they are temporarily living with another family. “Take the food to help supplement the grocery bill,” she said.

“The ones who have lost the most take the least,” Stobaugh-Clark said. Many look at items there and express to the volunteers that they don’t want to take something that someone else might have a greater need for.

One issue the donation center has faced is people who are not victims of the December tornado, coming and taking more than they need. Some high-dollar items have ended up in a local pawn shop.

Volunteers have had to cross out bar codes with black markers to keep donated items from being returned to the store for cash back, and they have taken to hiding key necessities in a back room, so they can monitor who takes them.

“We always greet whoever it is with kindness and try to help whoever it is. But we know we have a fiduciary responsibility, all this was given for tornado victims, not for the general public. So that’s where our focus is,” Stobaugh-Clark said.

The shelves at the center are almost always filled. Donations being stored elsewhere in the county are replenished here by Muhlenberg County Emergency Management Service. Volunteers are available outside of the center’s regular hours by calling Vivian Stobaugh-Clark at 270-543-9608.