Arkansans lend a friendly hand

Two firms roll in, dish up food

Jeff Sherwood (from left), Saba Naseem and Logan Webster, all of Fayetteville, help serve lunch to about 4,000 people Wednesday at a church in Moore, Okla.
Jeff Sherwood (from left), Saba Naseem and Logan Webster, all of Fayetteville, help serve lunch to about 4,000 people Wednesday at a church in Moore, Okla.

MOORE, Okla. - Thousands of volunteers have descended on this Oklahoma City suburb to help victims of a tornado that devastated much of the area Monday.

Three Fayetteville residents - Logan J. Webster, Saba Naseem and Jeff Sherwood - decided Tuesday to drive the 238 miles to Moore and help in any way they could.

They ended up saving two cats that were buried in the rubble. The cats were angry, Webster said, but their owner was not.

“She broke down and cried,” he said. “We asked her if she was a Razorback fan, and she said, ‘I am today.’”

On Wednesday, they helped Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale serve food to volunteers and those who’d lost their homes in the storm.

Tyson served a free lunch to about 4,000 people Wednesday in front of Southgate Baptist Church on Southwest Fourth Street, said Jeffrey Wood, manager of community relations for the company.

Tyson spokesman Worth Sparkman said that between lunch and dinner the company served 5,000 people Wednesday. The company provided 50,000 pounds of meat, mostly chicken.



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“This is the single largest nongovernmental food operation that I know of that’s operating in the city of Moore,” said Randy Terrill, a former Oklahoma state representative who was helping as a volunteer. “Tonight, they’re bringing in 30,000 pounds of flatiron steaks.”

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Mercy Chefs Emergency Food Service assisted Tyson Foods with the effort.

OK Foods of Fort Smith set up a similar free-food operation six blocks away.

Mark Wilkerson, director of national account sales for OK Foods, said the company pulled in three tractor-trailer rigs loaded with cooking equipment and about 40,000 pounds of chicken.

Wilkerson said the company gave away chicken after the Joplin, Mo., tornado in 2011 and in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

One big difference between the aftermath of the Joplin tornado and the tornado in Moore is that there is running water in Moore, said Wilkerson. Volunteers and people displaced by the storm were going to the Moore Community Center nearby to shower and for other assistance, he said.

The American Red Cross has also set up in the community center.

“Our primary focus right now is to feed [people in] the community center,” said Wilkerson.

Tyson Foods and OK Foods set up the free-food operations Wednesday and will stay as long as they’re needed, representatives of the companies said.

Six doctors from Mercy hospitals and clinics were set up under a tent to help people with medical needs.

“We have too many doctors,” Dr. Greg Dennis of the Mercy clinic in Yukon, Okla .,said Wednesday morning. “We’ve got three that are going to another shelter. We’ve given a bunch of tetanus shots already.”

Mercy had given 140 tetanus shots by 1 p.m. Wednesday, said Rachel Wright, a spokesman for the company. Most of those were preventive measures. About a dozen people had stepped on nails Wednesday morning and got the shots afterward, she said.

Mercy has 32 hospitals across Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

Capt. Carlyle Gargis with the Salvation Army in Fort Smith has been serving as incident commander for the organization’s effort in Moore. He arrived at the Salvation Army’s division office in Oklahoma City on Tuesday and will stay until Monday, when a Salvation Army group from Florida is to arrive for the next shift.

Gargis said he has about 400 volunteers in the Moore area.

“We have 10 team units that are out serving food and hydration,” said Gargis. “We’re doing three meals a day in the neighborhoods as we can get into them. They haven’t opened all the neighborhoods yet.”

Gargis said the Salvation Army has about 20 people who are providing emotional and spiritual support in Moore.

“They are probably one of the key things right now because there’s been so much loss,” said Gargis. “They are in really high demand right now.”

Gargis said the first disaster he worked for the Salvation Army was after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. He served on a canteen crew then, providing food and water to victims and volunteers.

“Not since then have I dealt with anything of this magnitude,” said Gargis. “It’s huge. It’s massive.”

Gargis said cash donations are better than donations of clothing or other items for the people of Moore.

“My team can purchase exactly what they need and get it to them on the spot,” he said.

Donations can be made by calling (800) 725-2769, he said.

Dominic Swanfeld said nine people affiliated with the Fayetteville Police Department had been to Moore as of Wednesday through the auspices of the Fraternal Order of Police.

That number consisted of seven police officers, a retired officer and the department’s volunteer chaplain. Swanfeld is a sergeant with the department.

“We’re police officers by trade, but we’re over there as volunteers,” said Swanfeld. “Everybody’s on their own time.”

Swanfeld said the Fayetteville contingent stopped in Norman, Okla., to clear trees from a police officer’s yard. Those trees fell when an early storm passed through the area, he said.

Then the group went to Moore, helping people clean debris from their yards.

Swanfeld said officers from Fayetteville did the same thing two years ago after the Joplin tornado.

“They were not nearly as organized as Oklahoma City was,” he said.

Trees were cleared from streets of Moore on Monday night, said Swanfeld. In Joplin, trees still blocked streets two days after the tornado.

Swanfeld said Fayetteville police officers will continue going to Moore to help as long as help is needed.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 05/23/2013

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