When Scott Engle asked for help in responding to the Easter Sunday tornadoes in southern Mississippi, it didn’t take long to for that need to be met, and then some.
On April 17, he asked for help through the East Central Mississippi Fellowship of Athletes. Within 48 hours, just about everything he asked for was donated, and the donations, which are helping families, schools and churches affected by the EF-4 tornado that ripped through Bassfield, Soso, Pachuta, Moss and places in between, have been rolling in ever since.
“All I did was put it out there that we needed 5-gallon buckets, plastic totes, metal shelving and dressers,” Engle said. “And the people have opened up their hearts to help.”
The day after the tornado hit, Engle began trying to find a contact person to see what they needed help with the most. Using his connections, he began calling and eventually found a person that pointed him in the right direction.
“And the one common thread through all of this is our connection to FCA,” Engle said. “Each and every person has been impacted by FCA in some way, and that has drawn us together to help these communities.”
In just over a week, Engle said they were able to raise around $25,000 in donations of money and supplies to help the affected communities. On Saturday, a group of volunteers from Newton and surrounding areas went to Clarke, Jones, Covington and Jefferson Davis counties to the deliver the supplies and also help with the recovery efforts.
Since the shelter-in-place order has been in place with the COVID-19 outbreak, Engle said it’s been a little more challenging to ask athletes from area schools be able to volunteer with manpower, but he said they were able to put together a team of volunteers to take the supplies and do whatever they could to help this past Saturday.
“Normally, we would just load up a van or a bus with a bunch of football players and go down there to help, but with the situation with the virus, we aren’t able to do that right now due to the shelter-in-place order,” Engle said. “But we still have a good number of people who are willing to go with us and help.”
Engle said the group took the precautions, such as wearing masks and maintaining social distancing, while making the delivery. He said they may have another delivery later on with the donations that were continuing to roll in.
“To God be the glory,” Engle said.
