West Texas Explosion

Below was taken in part from facebook post by Tom Kissinger(Elder West Church of Christ) Thank you to the volunteers. I would name names, but I would miss most of you. If I did not thank you personally, by apology. You are appreciated. Very much. We have met with many people today. We have passed out gift cards, we have passed out food, and we have passed out supplies, etc. We have accepted gifts from some wonderful Christian people that drove good distances to meet with us. We have more meetings scheduled. The outpouring of love has led me to tears on a number of occasions. I love you, and God does, too. We continue to have offers of help. If my recall is correct, we were told by one group that they could get in 50 workers in a day. Another said that they could get 40. Of course, we are not ready for that just yet. I am trying to keep information to contact them. Christian counseling has also been offered, along with chaplain services. Let us know your need, and we will try to get you connected with these people to fill it. It just came to me that we will probably need some people to open their homes to some of our volunteers coming in. Housing is short in West, so if some folks in Waco or Hillsboro see this, give it some thought and prayer. More tents coming tomorrow. Johnson Bros roofing has already loaned us one tent and a semi trailer. Another semi trailer is coming. Tents are coming from other sources. I am sorry--I just cannot remember who--I think a church in Waco? We opened our building today to the Texas Workforce Commission that is working with displaced workers from the nursing home that was destroyed. We gave each participant a gift card for $100. Disaster Assistance church of Christ provided sack lunches for all that wanted one. They also drove around town passing out lunches to relief workers at various sites. We have also opened our doors to various government agencies who are training workers that go into the disaster area. We have let various agencies use the church to try to help those in need. This was ALL voluntary on the part of the church of Christ at West. NOT a government takeover in anyway. They have all been thankful and courteous. We can still use gift cards and cash made out to Church of Christ at West. You can also donate to Churches of Christ Disaster Relief, Inc. out of Nashville, TN. Also, Disaster Assistance church of Christ. They are really being a huge help with the food--I ate some of it today. Outstanding sack lunch. We also are now taking donations of good clothing, canned food, packaged snacks (for the sack lunches), diapers, formula, cleaning supplies, etc. We hope to be able to get those packaged up so that distribution will be easier. The demand for these items will probably rise. I know I have forgotten something. For that I am truly sorry. It was not intentional. May the grace and peace of God be upon you. Love, tom