“This was like a piece of me, you know? This was me and my mom’s first house together on our own. And it’s just gone — there’s nothing left. You know, I still get emotional talking about it because my boys could have easily died. I knew they would be safer here with her than they would in my trailer.” “That Friday night, I felt the house start shaking, went to the bathroom and I put both of my boys, grandsons, in my bathtub, and all I could do is just pray, ‘Lord, just keep us safe, that’s all I ask, just keep us safe.’ This is my bathroom. This is where the tub, the tub was. I couldn’t hold on anymore about that time. It was just, I mean, like a second. It just happened so fast. They were just gone. All I could say was, ‘Lord, please find my babies, Lord, please help me find my babies.’ I did not know where they was at. I couldn’t see them. It was pitch dark. I had no idea. Well, at that time, another vehicle come down, God bless his heart. He said, ‘You say you’ve got two babies in a bathtub.’ All they heard was just a little bit of a whimper. Because when they come and told me that the boys are safe, they found them, I lost it. They finally got a hold of my daughter and she comes — God bless her heart. But I just thank God that everybody was safe. Because this right here, it was nothing but just material things that can be replaced. I don’t care about none of this. I don’t care about the ground I walk on. I just praise God for the life that he’s given me and spared me and my boys. I thank him for that. I thank him for everything he’s done for me.”

“People that we know, just pictures in our yard, that don’t even live around here. Street signs in the back of the yard, I mean, it’s just, it’s literally a nightmare. A nightmare.” “Me and my dad and my little sister were in our basement, in the living room, and all of a sudden the lights just go out and we felt the pressure from it. Our ears were popping, and my little sister was just in a panic. Everybody was in a panic. My dad headed upstairs, and can barely get the basement door open. We came out to this and just — everybody was speechless when we saw it in daylight the next day.” “My mom is kind of one of the stubborn ones, and when she saw there was tornado watches, she said, ‘Oh, we’ll go on the front porch and see if we can hear the sirens.’ Right there is the front porch. Luckily, we had a half-basement, so that saved my mom and my boy, so. People ask me, ‘What do we do?’ I don’t know, I’ve never done this, you know? My middle boy is a wrestler, a state-qualifier wrestler, since he was in fifth grade. He had a whole wall full of plaques and medals and trophies. We’re trying to find them. It don’t matter who you are or where you’re from. People that don’t even know you is looking for your personal stuff and helping you find the things that mean a lot. I was sitting here. and they rolled in this morning, and they’ve been here working their tails off. It’s not a community, it’s a family.” “Come over here and join hands. We can make the circle bigger. How many of you believe God’s been good to you today?” “Amen.” “Let’s go.” “If you’re here, I know a lot of you lost your homes right now. Obviously, this is what I grew up in. It’s gone. But this isn’t gone. Each other. We know that for some reason, this was allowed to happen in some weird way and that out of it, good things are going to happen.” “Give God praise.”

“Food Bank for New York City is the largest food assistance organization in New York City. We service about 800 or so agencies across the five boroughs in New York. We move 40 trucks in and out of here on a daily basis. We’re actually moving more food out of the warehouse than we ever have before. The challenges we’re facing are challenges similar to a lot of businesses out there. We have trucks that we have purchased that were waiting on delivery that have been delayed. And then we also have to balance that with the fact that we’re constantly looking for drivers to put in those trucks. And we’re doing that in an environment where the volume is growing.” “We served over 1.6 million meals from this location last year. And though we have seen a decrease in the amount of clients in as opposed to the height of the pandemic, we’re still dealing with the aftermath of the pandemic. And across the city, we’re seeing a 44 percent increase in New Yorkers who rely on food bank services.” “In my house, there are eight people and two babies. And we are only three people working in the house. So, it’s important for us because we have not much money to buy food.” “A lot of the supply chain issues are being handled all the way in the Bronx at our warehouse and taken care of by our team there. Gratefully, we have the food that we need right now. But we also have partners who are working hard across the city that are seeing lines go for several blocks that are calling us up at our warehouse and asking for more food because they have more people.” “Out of this kitchen, daily, we’re sending out between 800 and 850 meals per day, Monday through Friday. The need is greater than it was, but I think what it’s done is help to open up a lot of people’s eyes to see that this has been real all along. It’s just that the blinders are off now, and everybody can really see how much has been needed.” “The numbers of folks that don’t have anything to eat, it’s unacceptable. And it’s not going down. And we were already dealing with a crisis pre-Covid, so now we have this bigger crisis and this bigger imperative in ensuring that our neighbors are getting food.”

“This has been the most devastating tornado event in our state’s history. And for those that have seen it, what it’s done here in Grace County and elsewhere, it is indescribable.” “Everywhere along the line of this tornado that touched down and stayed down for 227 miles over 200 in Kentucky has been severely and significantly impacted.” “I have talked to the secretary of Homeland Security, while I have been here, he has pledged his full support and we are hearing that from every part of the federal administration and from our U.S. senators and from our congressmen.