Just hours after serving nearly a thousand people Christmas Dinner, The Salvation Army hit the ground running in response to the tornadoes that ripped through town that evening. Our canteen was out from before the sun came up until sunset the next day, serving more than 1,000 residents and workers affected by the storms. It made a second trip the following day, even serving Alabama Governor Robert Bentley as he toured Murphy High School.

As morning dawned on the day after Christmas, residents emerged from their refuge to begin evaluating the damage left behind from the tornado. Besides being greeted by blustery cold conditions, they were also met with coffee, hot chocolate, biscuits and donuts from The Salvation Army. As the day went on, soup, sandwiches and snacks were also served from the canteen.

One resident told us that when she saw The Salvation Army canteen roll into her neighborhood, she felt hope that everything would be okay. That is why we do what we do!

The canteen roamed around Midtown Mobile, spending a majority of the day serving our neighbors and workers at Dauphin Street & Rickarby. Then, we stopped at Old Shell Road & Carlen. We went on to the Roger Williams housing community, which had not received much help up to that point. And finally, we stopped through the Silverwood neighborhood, serving many of the residents warm drinks and dinner.

Our headquarters on Dauphin Street also opened as an emergency shelter from the cold weather, housing around 30 extra people.

See pictures from our Christmas Tornado Recovery efforts on Facebook.

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