NAPS on Ground in Mississippi: Tornado Relief in Yazoo City

NAPS on Ground in Mississippi: Tornado Relief in Yazoo City
by Victor Pile, NAPS Staff Member

The National Association for the Prevention of Starvation (NAPS) is on the ground in Yazoo City, Mississippi, helping victims of the tornadoes that passed through the area on Saturday, Apri 24. A professor, a doctor, and approximately 20 volunteers (students and alumni of Oakwood University a Seventh-day Adventist institution) left at 11:15 p.m. to join a team of other NAPS volunteers that has been in Mississippi for the past week on a fact-finding mission.

The team was making preparations last night for their summer mission in May to some rural parts of Mississippi and Alabama. The meeting was interrupted and transformed into an emergency response movement after an unexpected announcement by Dr. Anthony Paul, chair of Biology and the team’s leader. The team would be heading to Mississippi “a month early,” as a number of tornadoes hit that day.­

“When disaster strikes, we try to respond as quickly as we can,” says Dr. Paul. “The less you respond to the needs of others, the more your sensitivity and response decreases for the next tragedy. I am still amazed at how quickly the students mobilized to pull this mission together in the midst of projects and studies for their finals.” Some of these students just returned from a six-week mission in Haiti.

The team mobilized within a matter of hours, retrieving, purchasing, and organizing supplies to depart that night. The team is now assisting with debris removal and is prepared to give basic medical care and distribute hot meals. The team is expected to return today, April 26, to allow students to finish preparing for final exams.

For more information and updates, visit napsoc.org