A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

Crew from Burlington Baptist spent week in Benton helping rebuild home destroyed by West KY tornado


By Mark Maynard
Kentucky Today

Ken Ford and a crew from Burlington Baptist spent five days in Western Kentucky assisting a family who had been left homeless by the December tornado outbreak.

The 10-man crew from Burlington Baptist spent a week helping rebuild a home destroyed in December tornado.

The family was blessed with the work accomplished, but Ford said the blessings flowed both ways.

“What people don’t understand is they think you’re going to bless a family, but we are way more blessed than the family we worked for,” Ford said. “To see the look on their faces when you’ve gone beyond their expectations, well, it’s special. It’s not about us. We came to be light.”

Robin Bedwell and her husband, Brian, have been the recipients of a lot of God’s grace and blessings since the Dec. 10 tornado turned their world upside down. Their home, a garage and horse trailer were “gone in seconds,” Robin said.

Some of the remains of a home in Benton were destroyed by the December tornado.

Burlington Baptist’s 10-man crew was only the latest church team that has come to help them rebuild.

Work done of a new kitchen in a pre-fabricated home in Benton (Photos provided)

“We have seen the hands of God at work through this whole event,” Robin said. “So much going on in this world today. The media shows so much bad out there but there’s so much good. God is still at work. We’ve been able to witness that firsthand. We’ve had donations come in for us, and Bro. Mark Sickling, the director of the missions at the Blood River Association, has been absolutely wonderful.”

Sickling has run traffic for many of the crews who are coming to the aid of brothers and sisters in Christ. Churches in the area have also opened their doors to provide room and board for those workers who often stay for a week and sometimes more.

She said Burlington was the fourth crew that has been sent their way. The cooperative effort of the association and Zion’s Cause Baptist Church in Benton, which has provided housing and meals for teams, has made a difference for many in the western Kentucky area where the powerful tornado left a horrible path of destruction.

Robin said that seeing many people come from all over to help her family rebuild and to assist so many others is something that is hard to put into words.

“What they have done for us, number one, is life-changing,” she said. “There’s no amount of thank yous. They have impacted our lives forever in a way we’ll never forget. Giving of your time, that’s the hardest thing to do. I know because I’m selfish with my time. We are very, very blessed.”

Bedwell said she was happy that even though the tornado took away their home, it took no loss of life from her family – she and her husband, two children, pet cats and dogs and four horses all survived. A barn, a horse trailer and their home were wiped away from the direct hit.

“There’s no place like home,” she said. “It may not be much to most people but this house means more. It’s a house that love built. We had people give us money we don’t know and other strangers come and help. It gives you hope with the love we’ve been shown.”

On the night of the storm, Robin took her children to her grandmother’s home because she had a basement. Her husband was going to ride out the storm despite pleas from his wife and children to come with them. He eventually sought cover next-door in his mother’s cellar when son Landon told him he was worried about him.

Inside work being done.

Robin had been watching weather reports and saw her street name – Tri-State Lane – come up on the screen. “You get a little nervous when you see that,” she said.

Her husband made it safely to the cellar, with only minutes to spare. When he came back outside, he called his wife and told here there was nothing but destruction to all sides.
  
“He said, ‘We’ve lost everything.’ I handled everything really well, although I was kind of in shock at that time,” she said.

Robin said she has never cried over what was lost because she wanted to stay strong for her children, Jayln and Landon who are ages 19 and 16, respectively. That strength and a strong faith has sustained her as they began the process of rebuilding their lives. They learned quickly that they weren’t alone.

The Bedwells, who are members of Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, received help from friends and from some people whom they never knew. They purchased a used manufactured home that had to be gutted to be livable. Work crews, including the one from Burlington, have made the possibility of having a new home a reality. It first appeared it would take 5-6 months but now it’s more a matter of weeks.

“We went through the local AMS and said, ‘we will do whatever,’” Ford said. “They initially had three or four projects for us but when we got down there and saw this one particular house, they had us focus on that to get it back to living condition. That was probably the best move.”

The talented crew worked quickly and efficiently to begin bringing the home to life again for the family.

Framing inside

“Their home was an absolute loss down to the foundation,” Ford said. “Even part of the foundation was torn out.”

The days were long and the work wasn’t easy but the spirit of the 10-man crew stayed strong, Ford said. They enjoyed the hospitality of Zion’s Cause and Pastor Charles Frazier, who spent some time with them each day at breakfast.

“This would still be possible if 10 guys were just wanting to do it, but not without the help of local churches who house us and feed us,” he said. “That’s huge. It didn’t cost us anything. I’m a guy who has kids and a family. Our world is so divided right now. To do anything that doesn’t have to do with politics is good. (We want) to be a light to somebody.”

The Burlington crew and others were that light for the Bedwell family.

“I thought after the first couple of months everybody would forget about it,” she said of the tornado recovery. “But they’re still coming, still helping and there are still a lot of needs out there.”

Ford said at Burlington a group of men take on projects several times a year and encouraged other churches to look at ways they could assist. The blessings received, he said, far outweigh the effort.

He said while this particular crew had some building skills, it’s not required. “Don’t let that hold you back. We can find things that anybody can do.”

Any church looking to help in the Western Kentucky area can find projects by CLICKING HERE.

The remains of a home in Benton destroyed by the December tornado


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