In the storm response, one of the needs trying to be met is hope

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - In the Lewis Park neighborhood, Eurania Clines Jackson looks out from her front porch on the damage left by the May 16th tornado.

“It brings tears to my eyes to even reflect on that Friday,” said Clines Jackson.

While her area wasn’t the hardest hit, she knows what she knew might never be quite the same.

“This area has been so destroyed and the prospects of restoring and rejuvenating, revitalizing the area, it’s going to take years, years. We may never see the true restoration that would include people of color,” said Clines Jackson. “People who have lived in this area for over 50 years, generations growing up in this area, are now displaced. It saddens my heart.”

The to-do list created by the May 16th tornado is constantly growing. It’s leading people to take action into their hands to check off what’s needed. As people wait for a better idea of what the future might be, one of those items is hope.

One of the people working to provide that is Pedro Moreira with Victory Church in Tulsa, OK, which partners with 180 Disaster Relief and CityServe Oklahoma. As a member of the church’s disaster relief team, he was in St. Louis this weekend to help with the storm response with clearing down trees and serving meals.

Clines Jackson’s properties were among those they stopped at and helped with cleaning trees and debris.

Moreira said, “We believe that we bring hope. We bring in the light in a moment that has so much darkness. Loving on people, showing the love of Christ.”

On Sunday morning, the team started their day in a church off Newstead in North St. Louis. The floor of it was covered in glass after the windows were blown out by the storm. They were there Saturday helping with clearing trees and other debris.

Locally, Victory Church was working with Tracy Stanton after she was connected to the group. She organized a list with 140 jobs for the team to respond to during their time in St. Louis, as people and community groups also meet the needs of this massive tasks since the storm cleared on May 16th.

Stanton said, “Being able to provide a service to them, like some of them, those trees and things they can’t even get their power back on because of the trees and the city had not deployed to help them. It’s being able to provide not only that hope, that restoration of faith, like love but presence for those people to say you’re not forgotten about. There’s people in the community that’s here and abroad that care about you so much.”

Hope was also fueling a construction project in the parking lot outside of 100 Black Men. Erion Johnson conceived the idea to construct tiny homes to give away to storm victims. It’s after he and Michael Gerdine were out helping with the storm response.

Gerdine said, “I was affected by the tornado, and once I was able to get my house stable, I was like what can I do to help out the community, and we just started off. We just boarding up houses and tarping.”

Johnson, a carpenter, said he wanted to provide people with a sturdier structure as people are living in tents outside leveled homes.

Johnson said, “I’m right down the street, less than a mile down the street, so it could have been me.”

This first weekend of the project, the goal was to get about eight of these tiny homes framed. In the weekends ahead, they’ll be working on doors, windows, siding, drywall and electric. The hope is to have the first batch ready to give out by the end of the month.

The designs they’re working with can fit one or two beds.

“Right now, we’re just trying to get people housing. Just trying to make sure they have a safe space to just lay their heads and give people peace of mind,” said Gerdine.

Relying on donations and volunteers, Johnson got others who work in the trades to him in this effort like Martez Lawrence.

“I have to go help. I’m right around the corner, and I need to be a part of this because I was affected by the tornado, but not as much as other people. The impact it had on me, I can easily fix that. For some people, they don’t even know how to fix it,” said Lawrence.

Johnson’s also using it as a training opportunity to teach local kids these skills. Skills he said he learned through Job Corps that helped shape his life. There’s a goal of building 100 of these tiny homes by the end of summer.

One of the teens at the build, Ilijah Jones, said, “You just want to help the community out.”

Johnson said, “The community help is like two weeks in. Ain’t saying we don’t got help from the outside, but we’ve got to rebuild from within and we want to keep our community.”

That hope for the future leaves questions about how everything to come will be handled.

“I want the community to be seen, to be felt, I want the city to have a plan,” said Stanton. “A plan for revitalization, for rebuilding not just the physical properties but mentally and emotionally, spiritually, financially. I want to see funds to St. Louis city.”

Stanton and Clines Jackson among those who would like to see a clearer direction for what’s to come.

“I want to see St. Louis take charge. Do what needs to be done. The mayor, all of Missouri. Take charge, get money, get funding into these areas that have been underserved, underfunded for years,” Clines Jackson said.

Johnson and Gerdine are largely organizing this effort through Facebook. That is where they said people can learn more about how to help and reach out to them about providing donations.

Johnson can also be reached at [email protected] and is taking donations through the following means.

CashApp: $TinyHomeSTL

Venmo: @Erion-Johnson-1

Zelle: 314-930-1930

The building resumes on Wednesday, June 4 at 9 am and runs each day through Sunday this week.

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