10 Years Later: How The Amish Helped Clean Up After A Devastating Mississippi Tornado
This remarkable article caught my eye this week. Sue Watson, writing for the South Reporter, recalls the cleanup efforts following a devastating tornado strike in Holly Springs, Mississippi.
She looks back on the 10th anniversary of the event, which happened in December of 2015 – noting the helping hand extended by Amish and Mennonite volunteers from Pennsylvania. She shares two striking photos as well.
We’ve seen recent examples of this sort of outreach by the Amish and other Anabaptist groups, with a number of stories in the past year or so on disaster relief & rebuilding in North Carolina, or tornado cleanup in Indiana.
The tornado impacted several communities in Mississippi and neighboring Tennessee, causing over $10 million in damage and claiming nine lives as it wreaked havoc for over an hour.
In the aftermath, the Amish certainly weren’t the only ones who came to help, or even the first to arrive. But they left an impression. From the bit of the article about the Amish:
Barry Thomas offered his arena property to the Amish and Mennonite communities to set up camp. The Amish and Mennonites built a commons and kitchen area so their volunteers from Pennsylvania could cook, eat and hold prayer services. A new bus arrived each week with a fresh group of girls and boys to help build back houses and churches.
“It was quite an experience to watch folks come that far and work for people for free,” he said. “It was a fascination.”
The youth as early as 13 years of age are taught trades. They rode the bus 18 hours to get to Holly Springs.
“Little boys and girls worked carpentry – ran nail guns and saws,” Thomas said.
I’m sure it was probably unexpected to see mid-teenage Amish boys – and girls – doing that sort of work. But the fact is that they learn hands-on trades after they finish eighth grade (really, in many cases, starting before that).
As is often the case, the Amish outreach left a big impression on these (previous) strangers living half-a-country away. They demonstrate love for their neighbor first and foremost by their example – and no wonder that hits home with people:
“Honestly, our community didn’t even know to appreciate their efforts,” he said. “It was something to see, the love they have for strangers. It was quite an experience for me just to watch them. When you care about someone you don’t even know, and expect nothing in return – they really affected me while they were here.”
Thomas said he went to Pennsylvania to visit them afterward.
“They left from here and went to Texas,” he said.
Sounds like they were off to another relief job. I imagine Thomas wasn’t the only one who kept in contact with these helpers from another culture.
Nice unexpected reminiscence to come across. The article was apparently first published by the paper on the five-year anniversary in 2020, and reposted this year. You can read it in full here.
How common is this?
Our local Amish, (about 60 families) have never volunteered to do anything but help each other out. At least that I can recall. The need has been there, and other local people have pitched in, but not once can I think of any of them leaving even for a day to do anything.
-So is this a thing with some groups and not others?