THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER BIRMINGHAM

Your Community Foundation is still responding to many needs that remain from April 2011 tornadoes through the Alabama Tornado Recovery Fund. Thanks to gifts from generous people and great work by local organizations and volunteers, we have been able to support local efforts to repair and rebuild.

Here are some of the stories that inspire us to do more -- with your help.

One of the devastating 2011 tornadoes hit hard in a rural community outside Arab in Marshall County, tearing apart homes, flattening trees and killing five people. Members of this close-knit community came together to help and support one another right after the tornadoes, and have continued to work together to rebuild their homes. Gifts through the Community Foundation helped them bridge the gaps they could not handle on their own.

In Birmingham, a grandmother counted her blessings after the 2011 tornadoes. Where others lost their homes, hers was still standing, damaged by a tree and other debris. She tried to stay there for a while, but with no insurance could not afford repairs to keep out the rain.

We used gifts to the Community Foundation in partnership with other support to help her rent an apartment while repairs were completed by volunteers and to remove mold that had developed on interior walls, affecting her asthma. With her home restored, she can once again care for her granddaughter.

With your gift to the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, you can always know that you are part of something bigger, a foundation that only exists because community leaders came together 50 years ago to establish this savings account for the needs of the future.

The Community Foundation is supported by the community and focuses on what the community wants for itself. For Alabama Gives Day, our focus is tornado recovery, because this is so important for the quality of life in our region and our state. You will see our grants at work in Pratt City, Pleasant Grove, Shoal Creek Valley and across the state of Alabama.

We invite you to join us in this and other efforts to drive positive change in our usual coverage areas of greater Birmingham -- Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Walker and Blount counties.