A tornado ripped through a small community in Georgia and a local Lowe’s store immediately came in to help
Dorothy Bass loves Talbotton. She was born in the tiny town of 6,224 in western Georgia and graduated from its K-12 school (one of only two in the state). She now works for Georgia Family Connection, an organization committed to improving conditions for at-risk children, families and communities.
But even she couldn’t improve conditions after a tornado came through one Sunday afternoon early this year.
“Destroyed everything. Specifically uptown and our school. Took out entire streets,” she said. “We had to dig one kid out buried from debris. No casualties though. A miracle. But it affected us like no other because it’s such an impoverished area.”
Talbotton needed a lot of supplies and a lot of help. Dorothy called someone who knew someone who knew someone (we know how that goes) and got in touch with Store Manager James Day of Columbus, Georgia.
James’ area wasn’t greatly affected, but he remembers seeing news footage of the desrtuction destruction in Talbotton.
“Looked like someone took a plow and went through the whole town,” James said.
James had already sent supplies to several other towns impacted when he finally got the call from Dorothy.
“I helped out in Tuscaloosa a few years ago so I remembered what they truly needed,” he added.
James and his team got a Lowe’s delivery truck fully loaded with water, buckets, cleaning supplies, masks, garbage cans, bags, chainsaws, wheelbarrows, rakes, shovels and generators.
“There’s no grocery store so we also loaded up a grill, got some food donated, and had a huge cookout for the community.”
The effort of James and Lowe’s Heroes who came to help won’t be forgotten by Dorothy.
“James saw our community and what we needed,” Dorothy said. “He was proactive, there was no hesitation and he never wavered. Never held things up. And it didn’t make me feel like a beggar, just a good feeling.”
There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done but plenty of Talbotton residents now have the tools to make it happen.
Dorothy plans on visiting the Columbus Lowe’s soon to get a picture with James for a newsletter she sends out. Because just as Talbotton became part of James’ community, James is a part of her community now, too.
Read more about the many ways Lowe’s is serving communities.
