Men’s Club, Catholic Charities work together after storm

When the April 3 tornadoes hit Little Rock, two of the neighborhoods receiving significant damage were Cammack Village and Leawood, home to many parishioners of Our Lady of the Holy Souls Church. Msgr. Royce Thomas, the church’s pastor, wanted Holy Souls to reach out and help anyone who needed it.
At least 100 families at Holy Souls were affected in some way, according to Laura Humphries, parish life coordinator. Damage ranged from losing trees in yards to two homes that were total losses, but Humphries said she realizes how lucky the parishioners were.
"If those tornadoes had touched down (instead of pulling up trees), people would have died," she said. "But they didn’t."
Even as the Holy Souls parishioners were cleaning up their yards and repairing damage, the Men’s Club expanded their outreach to someone outside their parish whose home was damaged by a previous storm.
Immediately after the April 3 storm Tom Baker, a Men’s Club member and medical sales rep, discussed storm damage with Chris Elrod, an employee at Arkansas Specialty Orthopaedics Center. During this conversation Elrod, a parishioner at St. Theresa Church in southwest Little Rock who has a son at Catholic High School, mentioned she still had two large trees on her house, and did not have insurance to cover the cost of their removal. Straight-line winds had knocked down the trees during a February storm.
Elrod had gotten estimates, but the cost was prohibitive and "I was feeling defeated by that point," she said.
Baker drove by the house and realized the trees were not only on the house, but had knocked holes in her roof.
"I knew where to go — I knew guys who could help. The Men’s Club at Holy Souls is pretty active on this kind of stuff," Baker said. At the next Men’s Club meeting Baker mentioned Elrod’s problem. "It was mainly by word-of-mouth. And we have a pretty good e-mail system."
On Saturday, April 12, Baker and Men’s Club members Pete Stabnick, Joe Drilling, Chris Cronin and Mack Stafford went to Elrod’s house and began cutting up the trees and hauling away what they could.
"He (Baker) and the other gentlemen came out and cut down the limbs first, then came back and got the trees down," Elrod said.
Meanwhile Andy Rossi, president of the Men’s Club and an insurance adjustor, pursued ways to help with the roof. He knew John Kelley, a roof specialist with Short Trax Construction, through work and asked him to write a cost estimate.
Rossi and Men’s Club member Kelley Renard also approached Jamie Deere, director of parish social ministry for Catholic Charities of Arkansas, to see if it could provide any help.
Within two days Catholic Charities had approved the project. "It was lightning fast," Rossi said.
"We were financially able to pay for materials and roofing," Deere said. "There were holes in the roof, and more storms coming. We tried to act as quickly as possible."
The money used came from funds collected in parishes across the state after disasters like the recent tornadoes. Disaster relief is one of the areas included in the parish social ministry.
"After the Feb. 5 tornadoes a collection was taken. People have continued to donate (to that fund)," Deere said. "Currently parish disaster teams are set up in several places. If something comes up that can’t be handled by the teams, we handle it at the diocese level."
Because the request came through a parish and Renard, who is also the accounting services manager for the Diocese of Little Rock, Catholic Charities was able to handle the request more quickly than one coming from an individual.
"We didn’t have to do a lot of research," Deere said. "We knew it was definitely needed and needed quickly."
With everyone’s help contractors were able to replace the roof and some roof rafters with damage.
"She (Elrod) was just overwhelmed," Rossi said. "She thought she was getting a black patch." Instead, she got a new roof.
"When I came home, the roof was completely done," Elrod said. "I was shocked and amazed. It took maybe a month, if that. It all seemed to happen so quickly."
Rossi said he hopes the Men’s Club will be able to finish cleaning up the yard and do a few other projects at the house.
"We have a tremendous Men’s Club. They do so much. I don’t think people here are even aware," Humphries said. "They are stewards in action."