Lebanon Family Upbeat After Losing Home

Red Cross volunteer Carol Stafford of Shorter, Alabama gives Lebanon resident Sheila Gibbs a hug after hearing the story of how the Gibbs family survived a direct hit by a March 3 tornado by hunkering down in their storm shelter. 

Bearing hot food, snacks, water and hygiene kits, a Red Cross team turned their emergency response vehicle into the driveway of a Lebanon, Tennessee home on March 9 after seeing a massive pile of debris piled in front of a home that had no roof and only half its walls. 

What they found was a relentlessly upbeat homeowner, Sheila Gibbs, and a large crew of her friends and relatives helping clean up.

Sheila said that while her family lost almost all their possessions, they emerged from their storm cellar with what is most important -- each other.

"It's just stuff," she said gesturing to the massive pile of debris in front of the destroyed family home. But she remains optimistic. "Today I can stand out here and I can dance a jig because I still have my family.”

Sheila said she was out late playing bingo on Monday night, March 2, so she was awake when her daughter called in a panic because she'd heard a huge tornado was headed their way. Sheila said she did her best to calm her daughter, and then hustled her husband and another daughter into their 12-foot by 12-foot storm shelter just before the tornado hit.

Sheila said that she heard nothing, but knew the tornado was gone when her ears stopped hurting.  When her husband emerged from the cellar, he shouted back that he could see to the highway. Most of their home was gone.

The family waited for the sun to rise and then asked the first rescuers who showed up if they could be driven out to safety, Sheila said. They've been staying with her brother nearby while working to clean up the mess left behind.

Red Cross volunteer Jen Wolcott of Brentwood, Tennessee, embraces Sheila Gibbs after sharing some of the emergency supplies and food a Red Cross emergency response vehicle brought to areas of Lebanon, Tennessee devastated by a March 3 tornado. While the Gibbs home was destroyed in the tornado, the family survived unscathed in their storm cellar. 

The family has received a lot of help from the community, Sheila said, with about 30 volunteers helping out on Saturday and up to 80 of them on Sunday.

Once their home is rebuilt, Sheila plans to try to find everyone who helped out and throw a party for them.

We're going to have a shindig," she said, "to repay all of the volunteers."

To find out how you can volunteer and make a difference in your community, go to RedCross.org.