MONTEREY – The Tennessee Disaster Response Team sponsored by the Monterey Lions Club is beginning its fifteenth year of service, and its recent disaster response to Mayfield, Kentucky was its 100th response.
“Little did any of us know on that first response to the Lafayette, Tenn, tornado in Feb. 5, 2008, that we would continue to respond to help others for this long and would have responded to this many disasters and other calls for assistance,” the organization said in a press release.
The statement continued, “Each member of our all-volunteer team has sacrificed personally with time away from home, personal comfort and personal funds to reach out to others and show the neighbor-helping-neighbor spirit that makes this country great. The majority of our team consists of senior citizens from the Putnam County area.
“From major hurricanes to missing children, from floods to tornadoes, and from forest fires to recovering disaster displaced animals, this small team has responded. Using our personal vehicles and many times having to sleep in our trucks, we have answered the calls of our fellow citizens.
“With the help of financial donors and the prayers of so many people, our small team has earned a reputation throughout the United States as a team that can be called upon to help. We take great pride in the fact we are usually on the ground at the disaster within 12 hours, and many times within two hours, we are at ground zero. With the unstable atmosphere in the areas that we respond to, many times we have been caught up in new waves of tornadoes and storms but still continued to help.”
