Selma Long Term Recovery Group goes on until money, volunteers or cases run out

Not unlike 2023, 2024 has been a year of recovery from the 2023 tornado for many residents of Selma and Dallas County. Behind much of the recovery is the Selma Long Term Recovery Group. 

LTRG is made up of area business, civic and church leaders. Their mission is to provide recovery services to individuals and families affected by the 2023 tornado in Selma and Dallas County. 

Last year four homes were completely rebuilt. In 2024, most of the work is repair of damaged homes, according to LTGR Chairman Jay Gilmer. 

Gilmer said the organization channeled as much as they could through volunteer groups to stretch donated dollars. The organization had a “big push” at the end of last year and early 2024 with Samaritan's Purse, Mennonite Disaster Service and the Amish in Selma, he said.  

Many other volunteer groups came during spring break and during the summer. “All the while, we were still working though cases on an as-needed bases with local contractors,” Gilmer said. 

This fall the Mennonite Disaster Service was back in Selma. Gilmer said there is another group called The Nomads in town to help.  

“The Nomads are affiliated with the Methodist Church,” Gilmer said. “They are literally nomadic in that they are retirement-age folks that live in campers and travel the country doing relief work.”  

The Fannie Mae Company also sent a group of volunteers for a week. 

Gilmer reported that 2024 “was a really great year volunteer-wise to do everything in our power to extend our resources as far as they can go.” He said it has been a great year financially as well, but the limited resources are dwindling, and there are still cases to address. 

Jeff Cothran, head of the local United Way, which handles most of the funding for LTRG, praised the people of the LTRG. “We’ve had a lot of great partners in the LTRG, the Lutheran Disaster Response, Mennonite Disaster Service” and many more, Cothran said.  

“It’s been a big project. This January, it will be two years,” Cothran reflected. “I didn’t think it would take that long. But we’re still going. In some cases, it’s taken that long to get the cases ready to be funded.” 

As Cothran looks back at the work through 2024, “I feel very good about it. For 2024, United Way has committed over $580,000 for the repair and refurbishment of homes damaged by the tornado.”

He said he “just signed a commitment of $21,000 for the repair of a house that was damaged during the storm.”

Looking ahead to 2025, Gilmer said, “There’s still need out there in our community. Believe it or not, we still get calls from people needing assistance from the tornado. We still have a queue of cases that need working.” He added through 2025, “we hope to address as many of those cases as our resources will allow.” 

“We still have about 20 cases that will need assistance,” Cothran said. “The only thing we don’t have enough of is money.” Both Gilmer and Cothran said they continue to search for more funding.

Anyone or any business that wants to make a donation can do so though the United Way website www.selmaunitedway.org. Cothran said that is a PayPal Account. Donors can also send a check, labeled as Disaster Relief to PO Box 298, Selma AL 36701. 

You can find more on the LTRG on Facebook and at www.selmaltrg.com.

Gilmer said they will continue into 2025 “as long as we can, until the money, the volunteers or the cases run out.”