Tuscaloosa Trio Organizes Relief Drive for Texas Residents

Tuscaloosa residents are hosting a relief drive for communities in the state of Texas in the wake of the recent winter storm that left millions without electricity, running water and food.

University of Alabama Professor Dr. Jessy Ohl, his wife Margaret Yancey and fellow professor Dr. Darrin Griffin organized the drive, which will take place in the parking lot of Grace Presbyterian Church on Tuesday.

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"We all have people that are in our lives that are connected to that place," Ohl said. "And like the whole country, we've been hearing the news and we knew that they were in really tough shape and then we were hearing from friends and family about just how bad it is."

Ohl said the idea to host a relief drive was born when Griffin said he was driving down to Texas to help his family there.

Once Griffin's family found aid, the trio in Tuscaloosa quickly planned to host a drive-thru and drop-off event to load donated supplies into Griffin's trailer to be delivered to Texas by Thursday morning.

Some of the items that are needed include PPE, face masks and hand sanitizer, cleaning wipes, trash bags, diapers, formula, feminine products, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and bottled water. Ohl said that there is also a shortage of protein so the group has also asked for individually wrapped snacks, bread, canned meat, peanut butter, and soup in pouches not cans.

"So many of our friends and family in Tuscaloosa have ties to Texas, and when we heard the stories of people struggling to stay warm and fed, we knew we had to do something," Yancey said in a press release.

The drive will begin at 3:30 p.m. and will end at 5:30 p.m. Grace Presbyterian Church is located at 113 Hargrove Road. For more information, check out the Tuscaloosa Action Facebook page.

"We are so appreciative of not only the people that jumped to action, but especially Grace Presbyterian. They were super responsive because again, we are sort of doing this on the fly," Ohl said. "We are overwhelmed with the quick action and support from members of the community."