Union Members Come to the Aid of Pleasant Grove Tornado Victims
May 8th, 2011A series of violent tornados hit the Southeast in the last days of April, 2011, leaving physical, economic and emotional catastrophe in its wake that will not soon be forgotten, especially across the state of Alabama. On April 27, the most destructive tornado day in U.S. history, according to the experts, at least 340 people died, 249 in Alabama alone.
A large wedge tornado tracked across Tuscaloosa and headed for Birmingham, hitting Pleasant Grove along the way, where it flattened hundred-year-old pine and hardwood forests — as well as suburban neighborhoods, leaving thousands of people without power or Internet access and hundreds of families homeless.
Like many other relatives of the residents here, Jeanna Shackelford came back home to see her grandmother’s house, and watch the final demolition, carried out by the plumbers and pipefitters of UA Local 91 — coming to the aid of the damaged community by volunteering their services.
At the very edge of Pleasant Grove just off the tornado’s destructive path, members of the United Steelworkers Local 2122 were passing out bottles of water, when it became apparent they were in a perfect position both in expertise and location to act as a community disaster relief center. So now the old union hall is set up like a thrift store and community kitchen. Only all the clothing, medicine and food are free to the victims of the Pleasant Grove Tornado of April, 2011.
Tags: UA Local 91, Union Members Come to the Aid of Pleasant Grove Tornado Victims
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