My senior class was known as the Katrina class. Our senior year was put on hold by Katrina and Rita which ripped through our town and left us without power or school for a few weeks. This was also around my 18th birthday. It’s a birthday I will always remember because that year a generator and a birthday cake were the most impactful presents I could have asked for. This is a memory that I keep close as I do work with RISE, because I know what it’s like to have your life turned upside down by disaster as well as how hard it is to recover. I love doing what we do for those experiencing the battle of a lifetime and bringing a little bit of light to the darkness.

When Hurricane Katrina hit the coast of Mississippi, I was eight months pregnant with my daughter. Though it was sixteen years ago, I remember the wind being horrendous. The trees in my neighborhood were whipped around like windsocks, which was frightening enough, but the sound frightened me even more. The howling was unnerving.

Just before midnight on November 21, 1991 A “Super” tornado swept through Copiah, Simpson, Rankin, Scott, Leake, Attala, and Choctaw in November 1991. There were 122 injuries and 12 deaths. At the time, this was the sixth longest trek Tornado on record, measuring 880 yards wide, and staying on the ground a total of 128 miles.