Grateful Client Calls Red Cross 'Heroes'

Jaime Arthur, shown here with Red Cross volunteer Jan Dahlke of Nashville, says the Red Cross volunteers who have taken care of her family after their home was destroyed by a tornado are "heroes."  

"They're heroes, they really are, every one of them," Jaime Arthur says of the Red Cross volunteers who have helped her family since a tornado destroyed their home early in the morning of March 3.

Jaime was away from her husband Albert and their 4-year-old -- dealing with the aftermath of an earlier accident -- when the tornado hit. 

But when Jaime called early in the morning of March 3 to warn Albert and their daughter that she'd heard a tornado was on its way, it was already too late. Still on the phone with Jaime, Albert opened their second-story door and saw a semi-trailer lifted by the wind, and debris scattering everywhere. He put their daughter in the tub and sheltered her with his body. 

"I heard them scream," Jaime said. And then the line went dead. "For a good ten minutes I had no idea if they were alive or dead," she said. 

Then her phone rang. "He called me and let me know that it was over, and they were OK," Jaime said. Before they could breathe a sigh of relief, water started pouring in from the ceiling. “It was as if a bathtub had overflowed on the floor above,” Jaime said. “Except that they were on the top floor.”

"He picked her up and grabbed a few things and they got out," Jaime said. "He was just a hero for her."

The family was soon connected with the Red Cross by members of a local community group and they moved into the shelter that had been opened in Nashville's Centennial Sportsplex. 

Jaime says the Red Cross and its partners have taken care of her family's every need.

"If it wasn't for the Red Cross and what they're doing right, we don't know where we'd be," she said. Residents there have been provided with a clean, warm, dry place to sleep, laundry, showers and meals, as well as medical care. When the family has mentioned needs the Red Cross couldn't take care of directly, a volunteer guided the family to other local organizations that could help, she said.

Shelter workers worked "tirelessly" providing everything the family needed, Jaime said.

"Any time there's been an issue, they've been on it," she said.

Jaime says a volunteer even knew someone at her work and called them to let them know what had happened to her. Since then her co-workers have given the family generous assistance.

Once her family is back on its feet, Jaime says "I would like to give back, maybe to the Red Cross." A former nursing assistant and currently a cook she says she'd love to someday open a restaurant serving healthy food.

 "I don't want to just survive any more, I want to thrive, I want my family to thrive," she said.