When an EF-4 tornado with 195 mph winds destroyed the First United Methodist Church in Mayfield, Kentucky, Reverend Joey Reed and his wife were sheltering in the basement.

The catastrophic tornado flattened the historic downtown church of 102 years, as well as most of the Mayfield town. Reed said he is responding to his own grief by helping others go through the same difficult process.

“When we looked up and saw the extent of the damage to the church, we realized first that we needed to help people deal with how to grieve that loss,” Reed said. “The way we chose to do that is based firmly in our Christian beliefs that we are able to make, with God’s grace and help, that turn from grieving and suffering to servanthood.”

The Sunday following the tornado, Christ United Methodist church opened their doors to First United Methodist to worship, and they continue to worship there every Sunday at 9 a.m. Reed now faces the monumental task of rebuilding the sanctuary and what it will look like.

The December 10, 2021, tornado was one of 71 that swept across eight states, resulting in over 90 deaths nationwide. According to the Courier Journal, Kentucky’s death toll rose to 80 as of February 21, 2022, with 24 total deaths in Graves County.

Tornado Recovery Efforts
Almost five months after the tornado, Mayfield is still dealing with the damage and loss. Despite the outpouring of donations and volunteers, Reed said the community recovery progress was slow to start.

Community organizations active in recovery and rebuilding efforts realized in mid-January that better coordination was needed between them. Many of these organizations included representatives from the United Methodist Committee on Relief, Habitat for Humanity, FEMA, the Red Cross, Samaritan’s Purse and more.

Reed said these groups pointed to successful recovery operations to model after, such as the Long-Term Recovery Group (LTRG) in Joplin, Missouri, which was set in place after
an EF-5 tornado devastated their community in 2011.

By mid-February, a Long-Term Recovery Group was established as part of Recover Mayfield Graves, modeled after Joplin. Reed was named co-chair of the LTRG, and Pastor Al Chandler of Northside Baptist Church was named the chair.

“The structure of the Long-Term Recovery Group allowed for all these volunteer agencies to pitch in and allow for us as a community to figure out what our skills and abilities are [to rebuild] and to put those skills and abilities to work in the best way possible,” said Reed.

Recover Mayfield Graves is an organization that addresses the community’s physical, financial, emotional and spiritual needs in response to the tornado damage. The organization provides disaster victims with resources through a variety of committees and tables.

On the Recover Mayfield Graves site, those affected in Graves County can request disaster assistance and field cleanup, as well as request to volunteer. The LTRG keeps a media archive of their efforts these past few months and introduces each of the executive committee members.

Like many of the LTRG members, Reed and Chandler both volunteer their hours. Funds for administrative purposes are available to help pay full-time employees with the organization.

Long-Term Recovery Group Structure
Committees in the LTRG include case management, clean up and construction coordination, volunteer coordination, finance, donations, crisis counseling and unmet community needs.

As chair, Chandler leads subcommittee meetings and oversees community relationships. He and Reed work closely together to ensure one of them attends important meetings and fills in when needed.

Reed said he currently fills in as secretary and will fill in for Chandler to lead meetings when needed.

“Between the two of us and executive director Ryan Drane, we spend a lot of time handing off various functions,” Reed said. “We tend to work together when there’s a large adaptive problem that needs to be tackled. Then, when there’s just a long list of tasks, we sort of hash that out between us.”

To learn more about LTRG Executive Director Ryan Drane’s role, listen to this exclusive interview in which Chandler discusses Drane coming on board.

Helping to coordinate the committees to ensure they’re working together is a huge task and very important to avoid doing the same responsibilities unnecessarily, Chandler said.

The communications committee created the Recover Mayfield Graves website, writes the press releases and maintains the media archives. The finance committee helps organize monetary donations, maintains records of finances and ensures all funds are accounted for.

While finance handles monetary funds, the donations committee handles physical donations, such as furniture, tools and appliances. Reed said there wasn’t enough space in the first few months to accept physical donations, but they are currently securing warehouse space for additional room. This committee is also responsible for organizing construction and labor.

The unmet needs table is set in place to assist in recovery efforts when resources fall short. This committee assess what is needed past that other committees cannot provide and works with local, state and national outside resources to fill the gaps. Reed described it as a last resort since much of closing the gap often relies on local organizations who already provide many resources.

The volunteer coordination table organizes groups who want to volunteer at Mayfield. Many volunteers have wanted to come since December, but the town did not have the materials or the means yet to get started. They expect to see the volunteer numbers triple as the summer begins.

One of the most important but underdeveloped committees is case management, which focuses of forming policies and procedures to help disaster survivors. These procedures include making initial and follow up contact with tornado victims, connecting them with resources and assessing how to best support the family.

“The case management protocol is a very important part of what happens because they’re the conductor, they’re the one who is providing safe passage through this very difficult and confusing process,” Reed said. “That’s why the training is so important — to help them understand how to do that, not only with care and diligence but with devotion and sensitivity.”

Chandler said Graves County has over 4,000 FEMA cases, which the Red Cross suggests at least 70 case managers for, but Mayfield has barely into double digits. Cases are triaged, meaning those with the greatest risks and needs are assisted first.

“With the small number we have, we’re looking at years-long efforts going on here in Mayfield and Graves County to put these people back in their homes either by repairing those homes or replacing homes lost completely in the storm,” Reed said.

Case managers receive training to handle survivor’s specific situations and are assigned to victims who have experienced any level of the disaster. Case managers connect disaster victims to the various committees to maximize the resources available for them, which includes counseling and recovery groups.

“It’s definitely an organic system every single time we get together, depending on what the phase of our recovery is,” Chandler said.

A Community Comes Together
Before the tornado hit, Chandler said the Mayfield community was amazing, which was only confirmed when everyone came together.

Chandler said the amount of people who have come together for the recovery process has been encouraging. The community continues to assist with recovery efforts with even the disaster victims getting involved in the LTRG despite their circumstances. “Things were there before we even asked,” Chandler said. “People stepped up without being begged or having to ask to borrow certain things. It’s been amazing to see the number of quick generous, giving people there are from our local people and from people who don’t have any idea what Mayfield was before the storm,