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The Colony sends aid to Joplin
Britany Brashears-Long and her husband, Chase Long, of Joplin, Mo., stand in front of where their home used to be before it was destroyed in a tornado on May 22. Residents of The Colony spent the last week rounding up donations for them and other families affected by the tornado./Submitted photo
By BLAINE CRIMMINS, bcrimmins@acnpapers.com
On the night of May 22, The Colony resident Erik Brashears received a disturbing phone call from his sister-in-law. News of the tornado damage in Joplin, Mo., was starting to spread - and it was about to hit very close to home.
His niece, Britany Brashears-Long, lived one street away from the now-famous hospital in Joplin that was destroyed during the powerful, mile-wide tornado that fateful Sunday night.
Luckily, she and her husband, Chase, and 14-month-old son Kayden, survived the storm by taking refuge in a neighbor's basement three blocks from where their home once stood.
At that point, Brashears began brainstorming how he could help.
"I love my niece but I kept thinking about that little baby. No shoes, no clothes - it was so sad," he said.
Brashears, whose affiliations include The Colony Rotary Club and the local Masonic Lodge, said he "felt convicted" to do something. "I have a purpose," he said. "I needed to use my sphere of influence to help my niece."
His first call was to Liz Ripperger, a friend and owner of Kids Count Too in The Colony. She agreed to send out an email to her contacts and flyers to her customers soliciting applicable donations. Ripperger said she received "tons of donations" throughout the week as a result.
"The back office (of Kids Count Too) was filled to the brim," she said, adding that a posting about the effort on Facebook generated a lot of interest as well.
Before long, Brashears realized he had started something serious that would require significant commitment to see through. Early on, Ripperger asked him if he was sure he wanted to do this.
Considering the suffering taking place in Joplin, "I said, 'Let's do this. We can't not do it," Brashears said.
And the community continued to step up. Mike Alianell from the Masonic Lodge quickly mobilized the members, telling Brashears that "this is what we're here to do."
Brashears also reached out to friends at Bent Tree Bible Church in Carrollton, as well other members of The Colony business community. By Saturday, he had collected $1,200 in gift cards including $500 for Target, a queen-sized bed, an oven, bags of clothes, diapers, baby toys and books, blankets, three strollers, two cribs, miscellaneous toiletries, and more.
Simply put, the whole effort just flowed, Brashears said.
Everything was loaded into a 6x12 trailer on Saturday, which Brashears drove to Joplin on Sunday. Upon arrival, he was taken aback by seeing the tornado's destruction with his own eyes.
"Seeing it on TV is one thing, but when you're there and standing in the rubble of someone's house, it strikes you," he said.
What was striking in particular was his niece pointing out the flattened, debris-ridden spot of their home where they'd have sought shelter if they hadn't fled to a neighbor's basement.
Britany and her family had been staying at her in-laws' house since the tornado and they had a safe place to store the trailer-load of items. As it turns out, residents of The Colony were helping out a lot more than one family, as Britany will be passing along the surplus goods to relief organizations in the area for use by other victims of the tornado.
Ripperger and Brashears both pointed out that the effort wasn't about publicity here at home but was something that needed to be done. They expressed their appreciation and pride in the community for coming together to help the survivors in Joplin.
"People are good at heart," Ripperger said. "As many growing pains as The Colony goes through, their No. 1 asset is the people. ... This is a 'pay it forward' kind of thing. The heart of The Colony is good."
Back home now, Brashears reflected on the past week and was reminded of something his father used to say.
"It makes my heart soar like a hawk," he said. "That's our community."
And that community now extends 336 miles to Joplin, Mo.
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