April 10, 2023

Another round of severe spring storms traversed the Midwest U.S. last week, killing five people and injuring dozens more. Multiple tornadoes destroyed communities in Missouri and Tennessee, bringing the number of storm-related fatalities to a total of 62 lives in five weather events in the last four weeks. World Renew Disaster Response Services (DRS) is organizing a response to help storm survivors rebuild their lives after losing their possessions, homes, and loved ones.

World Renew DRS will coordinate to meet the needs in the hardest hit areas of Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi where people need help to rebuild their damaged homes and lives. World Renew has more than 50 years of experience providing long-term, community-based assistance in disaster-prone areas of the United States and Canada.

Just a week before the first storm system hit Mississippi on March 11, 2023, World Renew DRS volunteer teams completed work at a reconstruction site in Hattiesburg, where the organization has been rebuilding homes for six years after a 2017 tornado. World Renew has had long-standing contact with organizations and officials in the affected areas and can effectively assist people who are in need.

These ongoing contacts include volunteers and supporting churches that are connected to Christian ministries in Rolling Fork and nearby Cary, Mississippi. We are grateful that World Renew DRS volunteers serving in Rolling Fork completed their work and returned home safely on March 10, 2023.

World Renew DRS provides communities that have experienced a disaster with short-term clean up as well as long-term disaster recovery work that may be requested over the next one to three years or longer.

As local authorities complete damage assessments across the Midwest, World Renew DRS is preparing to deploy volunteers and equipment as needed. The organization specializes in assisting homeowners, who are low-income and unable to recover on their own, with roof repair and tarping, tree removal, needs assessments, cost estimating, and home reconstruction and rebuilding.

World Renew is accepting donations for Spring Storms 2023 to fund volunteer work in the most affected areas. Help survivors today recover from storms and tornadoes that have damaged their homes and disrupted their lives in catastrophic ways.