Life has changed

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On Monday morning April 14, sixteen tornados ripped through South Carolina, one of which grew to an EF3 hitting wind speeds of 165 miles per hour.

That EF3 twister made its way through Estill near Nixville Baptist Church, killing five people — three who were family members of Colleton residents.

The storm spawned tornados throughout the Lowcountry and caused a lot of damage, but it also created a catastrophe for Patrick Lerch. He had to bury his children’s grandfather, grandmother and aunt.

According to Lerch, Jim and Donna Breland, along with their special needs daughter Kayla, 26, heard the storm. Phones went off signaling an emergency. The three gathered together in a closet in their mobile home. Jim and Donna locked arms and held hands with their daughter while Jim read the Bible to them.

The tornado hit the mobile home, completely lifting it from the ground and transporting the home yards away before dropping it in a pile.

The Brelands were killed instantly.

Their 17-year-old grandson found them, still holding hands and with locked arms. The Bible was untouched — opened to Proverbs 27:1, which says, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” (NIV)

Lerch stated that the Bible will never be closed again and will remain on that page forever.

The grandchildren are recovering from their extreme loss and are coming to terms with the deaths of their loved ones. The funeral for just the family members was held at a local cemetery in Estill, conducted by the pastor of Nixville Baptist Church Allen Kirsher, who suddenly found himself burying three church members while spearheading disaster relief for the community.

“This has been an unbelievable situation,” said Pastor Kirsher. “The church suffered very little damage, and we have this very nice family life center, so it just seemed reasonable to make this the staging area for a distribution center.”

Pastor Kirsher, looking exhausted, remarked about how people from the area and Colleton County were coming to help, and how grateful the residents were. He pointed out several volunteers from Colleton who were dropping off water, diapers, formula, food and cleaning supplies or sorting and separating donations into appropriate piles.

Walterboro First Baptist Church donated gift cards for residents to use in Estill or Hampton to buy necessities. The Colleton Baptist Association website has posted a list of items needed, and how to make donations directly to Nixville Baptist Church. The church itself has a Facebook page with a tab marked “Tithely” with a link that to allow individuals to make donations to tornado relief.

Swansea Baptist Church sent a trailer with accommodations for showers and washer and dryers for clothes. Lisa Mixson, Joanne Brown and Robert Brown from Colleton, Hampton and Estill, manned the machines.

On April 15 and 16, Jimmy Fitts of Jimmy Fitts Catering prepared over 250 to-go meals for residents and workers who had no place to find food. “When people need help, everyone needs to pitch in. We have got to help them,” said Fitts.

Fitts and his team have been assisting members of Nixville Baptist Church in feeding people throughout the community. Glenda Crosby and Terry Winn were making certain that people had breakfast, lunch and supper. “We are doing this for as long as we can,” said Crosby. “We are hoping that soon there won’t be any need for us.”

The church volunteers have been serving over 400 meals each day.

Pastor Kirsher remarked on the generosity of people. “We are so grateful that we can help the residents here. Some of them lost everything they owned, including their lives,” said Kirsher.

“We appreciate everything that people are sending and the donations to help some of our residents restart their lives. But we really need prayer. Please pray for us. We have a long way to go before things are better here.”