About 60 Adventists volunteered to remove fallen trees and clean the front of the Municipal Center for Early Childhood Education Professor Galdino de Andrade, in Parque Tuiuti, Maringá, Brazil, on November 8. The building, which also functions as a daycare center and serves about 200 children aged 1 to 5, is in one of the regions most affected by the tornado that passed through the city on November 2.
Classified as F2 (winds 180–253 km/h), the tornado caused more than 1,000 trees to fall, and houses, businesses, and industrial sheds were damaged.
In the same neighborhood, the group cleaned the surroundings of the Dona Branca Vieira Community Hall. Volunteers also helped remove trees that had fallen in front of the Pioneira Mariana Viana Dias Municipal School.
Members of the church were already working on the city's recovery. A group helped cut and remove fallen trees from streets and avenues, including a road next to the Adventist College of Maringá, while another distributed boxed lunches to people affected by the tornado.
The director of the daycare, Silvia Regina Moura, thanked volunteers for their help. "We are very happy to know that there are people who are so willing to step up. Many volunteers also suffered damage to their own homes due to the tornado, yet they still made themselves available to assist those in need. We are very grateful for this support from the Adventist Church," she said.
Walter Teixeira, North Paraná Conference president, assisted the volunteers. "The church also has its role to help the community. We exist for that, to love, serve and reach out to others in times of need," he reinforced.
In addition to cleaning the school unit, the Adventist Church is evaluating new forms of support to address the needs identified after the tornado. According to Wellington Graepp, North Paraná Conference Adventist Solidarity Action director, the church plans to expand assistance to the school and affected families. "Beyond the cleanup here at the school, we are going to help the families. We’ve noticed that other things were damaged, and we intend to provide help in those areas as well," he stated.
The original article was published on the South American Division news site.
