Emery Wainscott
ewainscott@murraystate.edu
The night of the tornado, Micah Seavers remembers just wanting to help.
“That’s all that was going through our minds,” Seavers said. “I used to live in Alabama, and I have been through devastating tornadoes before—but this is my hometown, and I’m a grown adult now. So our whole intention when we got to town was how do we help? How can we help? And where do we start?”
By 3 a.m., about six hours after the tornado, Seavers, his family, volunteers and crews had food for 500 displaced residents.
As the owner of Southern Red’s BBQ, Seavers and those who helped him began feeding people regularly the next day. They delivered food to the elderly and others who had difficulties eating because of the widespread power outage.
“A lot of people don’t realize that just because you didn’t have your house destroyed or house damaged didn’t mean that you didn’t have serious needs when that tornado came through because the utilities were off for so long,” said Office Manager Cassy Basham. “While we were going through all that, we found really quickly that the break in the system was…individual contact.”
Before Seavers knew it, within two-and-a-half months, they had bought over 125,000 box meals, not including bulk meals given to churches and other organizations.
Seavers said they housed their first family within five days of the tornado. Those first five days were spent preparing the campground facilities for Camp W.H.O.A., Seavers’ nonprofit for children, in order to move families in.
The camp’s building has eight separate rooms, with 41 beds and a large commons room. After this effort, they still kept feeding, kept housing and kept helping those affected by the tornado.
In the process of doing that, the services they were providing and the donations they were receiving began to not match the original mission of CAMP W.H.O.A.—so Seavers founded Camp Graves.
Camp Graves provides temporary housing, community resources and education to equip those affected by disaster with skills to gain independence.
Seavers knew there were still so many who needed help for various reasons after that first week. He posted the following to his Facebook on Dec. 19, 2021:
I should be asleep. My mind is staying busy thinking of all the needs the folks have that may not have been thought of. If you need your fridge or freezer cleaned out because you are older or not physically capable, please reach out. We will arrange for it to be done and will try our best to stock it with items we have.
Are you without a meal due to not being able to get out or because your normal spots are closed or gone? Please reach out; we will feed you.
Do you know or are part of a group needing to be fed? Please give me a time, place, and amount, and we will make it happen.
We have items to help families like any other place and will gladly do what we can to get them to you.
Do you have a lost pet that is roaming but is scared and won’t come to you? Let me know. We will try to work with you to capture it.
Do you still need a place to stay? I have rooms at our camp still available for families. These are warm, comfortable places to stay. We will do all we can to make sure you have what you need but aren’t treating it as a shelter.
If you think of something else we can help with, please just let us know.
In January, the forecast was calling for snow. Seavers knew those with tarps or holes in their roof would need help staying warm, so he and Camp Graves Vice President Buck Shelton ventured into the cold with generators and natural gas for people who had no heat.
They ended up heating around 144 different homes.
“Doing that, you really get to see the destitution of an area,” Seavers said. “You get to see the worst parts that we—honestly, a lot of folks—never want to look at.”
Seavers’ wife, Kim, posted a picture of Seavers barefoot in Tractor Supply just days later as he continued to help those who needed to stay warm. Later, she updated the post to clarify that he had given his boots to an older man who needed them.
The post had 135 comments speaking very highly of Seavers. One said, “I believe this of Micah. He not only [gives] the shirt off his back but also the shoes off his feet. He is truly a great neighbor.”
Seavers explained in the comments what happened:
“We were at a set of apartments delivering food, heaters and fuel. There is the sweetest older man who lives there…He is happy and joyful and just a joy to talk to every time I see him. The young lady that manages them…[asked] me if I can get him a pair of size 12 boots. I know how requests can go; they sometimes get made and don’t get met, not on purpose or out of meanness, but just slip through the cracks. I didn’t want it to slip through the cracks…I had only worn the boots on my feet a few times, so I opted to give them to him as they are very nice boots, and warm, dry feet are so important. …Sometimes giving needs to be immediate, and sometimes it can wait for a later moment, but the impact is always the same, so always be kind.”
As Seavers came across more problems that needed to be addressed, Camp Graves slowly started expanding their efforts.
They now have tiny houses and campers to house those transitioning to permanent housing and started a program turning abandoned houses into rental or ownership properties, which the Mayfield Graves County Long Term Recovery Group has now taken over.
With the last project, the camp contacted the owners of vacant properties and offered them a deal: they fix it up for free, and in return, they provide those in need with a year’s free rent. After that, the owner can sell or rent it to them.
The camp sets prices—the owners can’t exceed a certain price and can’t charge for repairs. The rent or price they sell at would be the original value of the house before repairs were made.
For temporary housing, residents can put in an application. Anyone is welcome—single people, families, the elderly, veterans, disabled people, etc. Applicants must not have been convicted of a sex crime and must pass a drug test.
Seavers clarified this is not because they want to turn away those who struggle with addiction but instead because they’re not set up for that kind of help.
“Get the help you need to get yourself clean, and then come to us, and we will help you,” Seavers said. “But we are not set up to battle those demons for you. It takes proper training and proper facilities for that.”
The temporary residents are usually there from 12-18 months—though the time limit is not set in stone. During that time, they have to hold jobs, unless they’re disabled or elderly.
Seavers said they’ve helped permanently house 27 families.
While housing them, the camp works with residents on budgeting and purchasing skills, teaching them about mortgages, how to save up and how to rent—with the goal in mind of setting them up with permanent housing.
The organization is funded by private donations and American Rescue Plan Act funds, a federal stimulus bill signed by President Joe Biden in March 2021. Originally for COVID-19 relief, these have now been used for the veterans building on South 6th Street and can only be used for that building. They do not receive other government-affiliated funds.
“We make it work, and we pray a lot, and we have a lot of faith, and it always seems to work out,” Seavers said. “Everybody on the board just shakes their head at me all the time because they’re like, ‘You always think it’s gonna work out. And it always does.’ Like, it gets pretty nervous sometimes, but it does work out.”
Once they’re done housing tornado victims, they’ve already got transitional plans for each one of the tiny houses. Six of them will become an aging-out program, with a scholarship for kids who age out of the foster system and have not yet been adopted. The other three tiny homes will go to people who lose their homes in fires.
The homes will be for surrounding areas, not just Graves County.
“We have future plans for everything that we’re doing, so that way the people that do donate money, they’re not just donating money to help now,” Seavers said. “It’s going to help forever.”
Connor Capito contributed to this report.
