Humanitarian efforts continue

By Allison Brophy Champion

Published: May 18, 2008

For Madison County contractor Tony Windland, founder of Tornado Relief of Culpeper, his work is never done.

This time, wild weather brought him to eastern N.C., where tornadoes destroyed more than a dozen homes in Bertie County on Mother’s Day.

Tuesday, Windland stopped by the Star-Exponent with a U-Haul loaded with half-pallet of bottled water, 36 cases of soap, 12 cases of shampoo and six cases of paper towels.
He was on his way to deliver the supplies to a Red Cross shelter operating out of a church in Windsor, N.C.

Windland, who last week delivered bottled water to Stafford after violent storms in that area, doesn’t know why he does it.

He just feels the need to.

“Someone needs to help out,” said Windland, 44, owner of Little General Construction.

An usher at Precious Blood Catholic Church, he formed the Tornado Relief fund in February after reading a newspaper article about tornadoes in Tennessee. A family’s house was completely destroyed in the storm, but one inspirational thing survived.

“They found a hymnal shredded with just one page of the songbook left, ‘Victory Behind the Clouds,’ so Jesus is there,” said Windland at the time, spurred to action.

He traveled to Tennessee twice to bring relief, using funds and supplies donated in the Culpeper area.

For his most recent trip, Windland spent $540 from the relief fund at Merchant’s Grocery, obtaining emergency necessities at cost.

He uses an atlas to find his way around and plans to keep Tornado Relief of Culpeper open for as long as it’s needed.

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or .

Warrenton group helps to get aid to Myanmar
Warrenton-based Air Serv International is working with the international aid community to gain access to cyclone stricken Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Allen Carney, the local group’s vice president of programs, and Corliss Zylstra, ASI’s Myanmar field response manager, spent several days in Thailand last week in meetings with key officials working to bring relief to the country in southeastern Asia, according to a news release.

Monday, Carney presented a proposal to the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok offering to make aid helicopters available and he and Zylstra attended a meeting hosted by the World Food Program Tuesday.

The United Nations estimates as many as 2.5 million survivors of the deadly May 2-3 cyclone are in desperate need of food, water and medical care, the Associated Press reported Friday, but aid groups had only reached 270,000.

“There is general consensus that the humanitarian situation in Myanmar will continue to deteriorate and escalate into a more serious humanitarian crisis,” Carney said Wednesday.

The Myanmar government says at least 43,318 people were killed in the cyclone and nearly 28,000 went missing, the AP reported, but the Red Cross fears the death toll may be as high as 128,000.

Reports from Carney back to the Warrenton office indicate that relief supplies trickling in overland are negligible in terms of actual effectiveness.

Myanmar’s military junta insists its government agencies can handle the relief effort, particularly aid distribution, the AP reported.

Carney will return to his home office Monday with an update on the emergency situation.

Air Serv International is a nonprofit organization with nearly 25 years of humanitarian aviation experience, including relief flights in Indonesia following the 2004 tsunami.

—Allison Brophy Champion