First Person
Dispatch from Nashville
Dear everyone,
Tuesday morning here in Nashville had a surreal quality that we will remember for a long time.
At 12:45 am, I woke to the sound of my phone’s weather alert—a tornado warning—and by the time I turned on the TV (after two minutes of trying to use my phone as a remote control), I found that the meteorologists were talking a lot faster than normal for one of these things. They were talking IN ALL CAPS, pointing hard at their pixelated radar maps and saying things like “This is real. This is a large tornado on the ground.” Get to a bathtub, a closet, a basement—put some pillows on your head, a blanket—“they will comfort you, that’s what they’re there for,” the guy on Channel 4 actually said.
They all agreed that the path of the pixelated radar map blob was going straight across Nashville, along I-40 east toward Cookeville, 50 miles an hour.
Trouble that comes in the night is a special kind of terror. My house was not in the path, but our MDK office in Germantown was. The murky night photos coming out of the neighborhood showed buildings I pass every day, demolished. I saw dim drifts of debris filling the streets that we wander when we need a cupcake from the Cupcake Collection. My worry was that our building on Taylor Street would be one of those demolished buildings.
An email from Robert, our building’s manager, let all of us tenants know that our building was OK. At two in the morning, he had gone to check it out, having wandered from his home nearby—windows blown out—past two neighboring houses that had been flattened. This kindness—putting us all at ease when he knew we were all awake and worried—moved me deeply.
Once the sun rose, bringing an absurdly blue March morning, I watched the coverage as the dawning horror of it all reached us. A tornado moving at 50 miles an hour can go from west Nashville to Cookeville, three counties over, in about an hour. Urban to rural, right along the interstate, plowing up neighborhoods and schools all the way. The wanton ruin of it all—who’s safe and who’s not—none of it made a bit of sense.
How to Help
Many of you have generously asked how you can help out here in Nashville (and the region, really—Putnam County to the east has lost 16 people and entire neighborhoods). Money is the thing that can help from a distance, so here’s a good list of organizations to consider.
Feeding People, a Nashville Specialty
As the day ground on, we started to hear reports about the people of Nashville who began what is going to be a long recovery. Clearing streets, restoring power to 50,000 people, finding all the missing people, tending to the hurt, consoling the families of the 25 lost. Midafternoon, an email arrived from Tallu Quinn, the head of the Nashville Food Project, with an update to her army of volunteers. She wrote:
Good afternoon to our amazing volunteers! I pray you are safe today, and thanks for all the calls, texts and emails. We are working on getting full power restored to the California Ave. kitchen. Currently it’s back up and running on a generator at limited power. Our staff and vehicles have been on the streets today sharing cold meals to emergency shelters and neighborhood recovery hubs in North and East Nashville. Before bedtime tonight, we anticipate having a full relief effort plan for the remainder of the week/weekend that will include extra prep times, cook sessions, and meal service into the community. We will email all our volunteers with this info in case you are in a position to plug in somewhere. We are also trying to keep our social media and website up to date, so please check there. As you know, a helpful, coordinated effort takes a bunch of layers of communication with many partners and stakeholders, so thanks for your patience. More from us soon! With love and thanks for everything, tallu
The Nashville Food Project is an organization that works on multiple levels to feed people, educate children, and make Nashville a better place, so it’s a worthy group. They’re feeding the responders and displaced folks right now, and lots of other people most days of the week, too.
Looking Ahead
Thank you to everyone who checked in on MDK. We can’t get into our building yet, so we’ll resume shipments as soon as possible.
We are heartsick about what came to Nashville in the middle of the night, but I have to say: this is a resilient city. There’s a lot of love. If anybody wants to know what a Super Tuesday really looks like, just watch the news about Nashville right now.
And yes, The Cupcake Collection is still there.
https://twitter.com/BlackDebutante/status/1234929001665384449?s=20
They’re famous for their sweet potato cupcake, but really, they’re all good.
Love,
Ann
PS Thank you to Elke Hoffman, a wonderful staff member at Nashville Food Project, for the photo up top. Here’s another, with East End United Methodist Church. And here’s a story about that congregation and how they’re responding to the destruction of their church. Spoiler alert: they’re going to be OK.
My heart goes out to everyone! I’ll help.
So glad you are all safe, I wondered most of the night with the Insomnia monster.
Thanks for the update and the link to the Nashville Food Project. It was easy to donate. Prayers for all of you in Nashville.
So very glad you’re all safe. My heart breaks for Nashville.
Glad you all are safe! My son lives in East Nashville and is well, too.
So hard to see such destruction….tornadoes are so random and unpredictable.
Nashville has work ahead, but the fine people there will come together and make it happen. ♥️
Praying for Nashville and its recovery from this horrific storm.
Omg. Thank you for your heartfelt description of the horror. Glad you are safe.
Thank you for letting us know what happened and passing on ways to help. It is heart-wrenching.
You all are in our prayers.
Ann, thank you for this post I can only imagine how difficult it was to write. So glad you and yours are safe. My heart goes out to those who lost their loved ones. This senseless loss of life and property hits close to home , even as I am far away in New York. You brought it all to us in a very sensitive and thoughtful way. Ann, your writing is extraordinary.
Sending love.
Thanks for the update. So relieved you and yours are fine. The Nashville Food Project is a wonderful suggestion.
I just sent a donation to the Nashville Food Project. Nashville is one of my favorite cities and I know there will be tremendous community and national efforts to recover and rebuild Nashville and the other hard hit Tennessee areas
So thankful you are ok. Praying for all of Nashville.
So glad to hear yall are safe! Thank you for the updates and we will participate and send our love and prayers every day
Your beautiful, eloquent writing is always a blessing, and while I am saddened to read this, I can feel the strength and power and LOVE that Nashville folks have. Thank You for taking time to write these words.
Prayers for all souls in Nashville and a small donation to the Food Project.
Wow! My heart and prayers are there with you all. Feeling the need to help out here. Your about 5hrs. Away. I have a sister and niece in The Cookville area. Your and amazing city, with alot of resilient people!
My heart goes out to all in Nashville.
Thank you for updating us. So glad that you are safe. And thank you for giving us fellow knitters a tangible way to help by calling out Nashville Food Project. In time of disaster, it is often hard to know what to do and how to send support to the people that need it most. I hope that NFP will be overwhelmed by love from knitters today! Come on everyone!
Ann my thoughts are with you and all of your friends and neighbors in Tennessee. Please take care of yourself. ❤️
So glad you are all Ok. My niece and her family live in the Five Points area and were lucky to be OK as well but oh the devastation and shock you must be going through.I am forwarding your suggestions for donations as well. Take care. We all love you and are grateful you were not physically hurt.
Thanks for letting us know how to help! Donating was easy. Thinking of Nashville and appreciating your story today.
Thank you so much for keeping us up to date. I will help. Happy that you are all safe. God Bless
So glad you (and all the yarn!) are safe! And thanks for the info on the food bank. It can be hard during a catastrophe to know which groups are legit. You gave me a reliable place to send a donation, so thanks for that.
This is absolutely heartbreaking. I’m so glad that you’re okay. Will donate to the NFP. Thank you for sharing their info.
I am so relieved that you are okay. Thank you so much for suggesting of how we can help.
I spent most of last week in your wonderful city attending a conference along with 8,000 other public librarians. I was heartbroken to learn of the death and destruction the tornado caused. You all will be in my prayers and I am donating to help out. I’m glad you and your offices are okay.
Thanks for the update – a tornado in a metro area is devastating to so many people – 20+ years ago our area had two back to back nights of tornadoes – all are in my thoughts and prayers
Glad to hear you are all safe, praying for Nashville.
As others have said, the Food Project was a very easy donation. SO GLAD you’re all right <3
Thank goodness you’re okay and that the HQ was spared. Scary!
Dear Ann—thank you for your heartfelt words and helpful suggestions for how we can help. Thank G-d you and yours are safe and ok. Have made a donation to Nashville Food Project—very easy to do (for others to know). Stay safe and will watch for more ways to be useful from afar. Thinking of all of you and wishing for easier days in the days ahead.
I am so sorry to hear about this. It is indeed very easy to contribute so thank you for providing that information.
Brought tears to my eyes. Dollar relief on its way. Thank you for the update, covering not only MDK but some of the most vulnerable among you.
Thank you for the update, and for the link to the Nashville Food Project…happy to be able to send a contribution where it’s needed. So sorry for what Nashville is having to deal with and am keeping y’all in my prayers.
So glad you are OK at MDK! Sending warm vibes to Nashville and its wonderful people from Vashon Island, Washington.
Thanks for sharing an update. Sent to Food Project.
Sorry for your loss.
XOXO
From an Oklahoman who knows exactly what your are feeling, our prayers go out to all of you. It may not feel like it now, but you will survive and you will be stronger for it! I live between the two elementary schools that were destroyed in May of 2013 in Moore, OK that was the scariest day of my life. By the way the crow flies they are less than a mile apart. Oh my goodness.
Thank you for the update; my heart goes out to our beloved Nashville! Just sent a donation to the Nashville Food Project. Bless them for keeping the responders fed.
We love Nashville, and our hearts are with you. We visited last year for the national archery tournament and we look forward to coming there again. Donated to the Nashville Food Project. Thanks for the link.
Thank you for letting know the Nashville arm of MDK is safe and sound.
If any of you are moved to donate and work for a company that matches funds, don’t forget to do that.
So glad you’re OK. We had tornadoes pass through Dayton last year. Thankfully, only 1 death, but the clean up is still going on, almost a year later. I will be donating to a local agency for you!
We’ve survived the wildfires here in Northern California, and the amazing wonder of it all is how the community came together, helping and giving to all. There truly is reward in the midst of tragedy. My heart goes out to all of you, and thank you, as always, for the daily joy you and Kay bring me.
After you donate, please consider posting on your Facebook or other social media https://www.thenashvillefoodproject.org Or Google “how to create a fundraiser on Facebook” and set up a way for people to donate right there when they read your post. Spread the word, and let’s help the folks of Nashville get fed while they put their lives back together.
I’m glad you all are safe. I spent a good part of the night on the phone with my daughter in the West End. She’s fine, and wish Nashville all the love.
So glad your ok. I’m just 2 hrs away here in Benton, Kentucky. Continued Prayers
I’m happy you, Kermit, the Nashville MDK staff, and the MDK World Headquarters are all OK. I was worried!
So thankful you are all going to be okay. Thank you for the link to NFP, it’s great to have a way to try to help from out here in New Mexico. May buddhas and bodhisattvas hold all in their love and compassion.
Thinking of you all in Nashville. The photos are unreal … it’s such a rare thing for a tornado to tear through the heart of a city like this. (In the middle of the night, no less, without warning.) I immediately thought of our drive through Nashville just a few months ago with you pointing out all of the buildings; buildings with so much history. I’ve been through some scary tornados here in the midwest and it really shakes you up and makes you ever so thankful to be on the other side when it’s over. I’m so glad the MDK crew is okay but sending all the love to everyone affected. Thank you for sharing links/ways to help.
I’m so relieved that you and MDK Headquarters are safe! I’m so sorry about the destruction and loss of life. Thinking of you all.
Prayers of hope and healing !!
I too have been in a tornado and survived. I pray that no more are found dead. Hang in there. Linda
Don’t forget the Red Cross – more help is on the way. Go to your local Red Cross office and donate money, specify Tennessee Tornado Relief. The money will get to those who need it so they can get what they need there locally and help restart their economy.
So thankful that you are safe. Prayers for those with losses.
I’m so glad to hear you are safe. Thanks for giving us a way to help through the Food Project.
In 1987, pregnant and with a three year old daughter, a tornado touched down one block away from our home. It destroyed only one home, no one was injured but the memory remains.
My heart goes out to all.
Thank you for the info about donating; I live in San Antonio, so it was very helpful. May the recovery proceed as steadily as possible. We had a small F1 tornado in my neighborhood several years ago. We were fine, but neighbors lost their houses. Well I remember how long it took to first clear debris, then begin rebuilding. Our prayers are with you
I am glad you guys are safe. My heart breaks for these towns, businesses and especially for folks who lost loved ones & friends. Tornadoes are so dang scary – especially when they come at night. Thanks for names of places to donate to, much appreciated. Take care ~
Thankful to hear you are safe. So saddened to hear of the loss and devastation there. Sending hope and positive thoughts to all.
Thank you for this update! Have been praying for yall since I first heard of the tornado. Really appreciate direction on how to support worthy local organizations!!!
Absolutely terrifying and absolutely inspiring !
Thank you for your first person, HUMAN accounting of the trauma your area has suffered. Our prayers go out to each person and family who live in the region.