7/28/2011 - By Norman Lafaille

In the wake of disaster, one Harrell’s family spared, another inspired

Norman Lafaille, Harrell’s Horticulture North Sales Manager recounts his family’s inspiration to help in the wake of the devastating tornado that ripped through Massachusetts in June 2011.

June 1, 2011 started off like any other day.  I was heading to Boston to pick up Scott Martiniere and Rick Helpingstine for a Harrell’s managers meeting in New Hampshire.  We arrived in time for dinner when I heard Jack Harrell and Greg Nicoll talking about how Dave Schemerhorn had to leave in a hurry to get back to his family in Brimfield, MA.  A tornado had ripped through his neighborhood leaving a path of destruction a ½ mile wide and multiple miles long.  He and his family consider themselves very lucky, their home was spared and family was safe.  The area around Dave’s home was very devastated, many of his neighbor’s homes were either complete losses or very heavily damaged.  Dave’s back yard went from being a beautiful forest backdrop to a tangled mess of trees all snapped off at about 15 feet.  All of the trees leading up the road as well as his driveway had all fallen over as well.

This story could be told a thousand times by simply filling in a different name of whose home had been destroyed or severely damaged. As the days passed, the devastating story continued to unfold.

One family owns the local coffee shop in Sturbridge. Their home is in Monson, MA.  Fortunately for them they were at work that day.  When they managed to get back to Monson, they learned their home had been completely destroyed, only the foundation remained.  They told me it was the worst feeling you can imagine to see all of your belongings scattered throughout the community.  They also consider themselves lucky that they were at work, and in fact their coffee shop is in a building that was formerly a bed and breakfast so they have a place to stay while their home is being rebuilt.

This tornado’s path of destruction is really amazing as you will see in some of the photos, however it pales in comparison to the power of these communities pulling together massive relief efforts to help all of those in need.  Each community had a base of operation set up as “command central” and they continue to collect, prepare, and give out meals each day to thousands of people in need.  Visit Brimfield United Church of Christ to help http://www.facebook.com/BrimfieldUCC#!/BrimfieldUCC?sk=wall

Four days after the tornado my family decided to take a drive to Brimfield to see what we could do to help and to see the destruction.  My wife and kids had made two dozen cookies and individually wrapped each one.  When we showed up at the command central, you would have thought we gave them a bag of $1,000 dollar bills.  The women preparing meals said desserts were in short supply.

The next day my wife, my mother in law and a couple of her friends began baking and wrapping cookies.  I think they ended up with 20 plus dozen.  This is just one very small example of the way people come together in time of need.  Just doing something was all you needed to do.  For many people, eating those cookies would at least get their mind off of the crisis and confusion of such a severe storm for at least a few valuable seconds.  It was amazing to see the thousands of volunteers that worked with Emergency management teams within all the communities affected by this devastating storm.  In our crazy world, it is good to know that there are still some great people out there, willing to give to those in need.  Even if it’s just a few dozen cookies!