Thankful for people who care

At the beginning of May, Nashville, my city, experienced what was called a 500 year flood. That means that a flood of that magnitude is only expected to occur once in a five hundred year period. More simply put, it just doesn't flood like that in Nashville. At least, not in recent memory. At least, not enough so that homeowners and business owners take out flood insurance policies.

On my street, we only saw lots and lots and lots of rain. But there were places, even just a few blocks away, where intersections flooded out leaving cars and people stranded. Houses less than half a mile from us experienced flooding in basements and crawl spaces. It all depended on how close you lived to a creek or stream or river and how far above bank level your home was situated. There were streets where one side was lower than the other and the homes on that side flooded while the neighbors across the street were literally high and dry.

photo by Alli Worthington

One of the most highly broadcast images from that weekend was of a building floating down I-24, a major interstate highway that runs through Nashville. The building was from a nearby school, Lighthouse School that has been operated by the Sweatt family since 2003. I absolutely could not believe my eyes when I saw that footage being played on the news. Just a few hours earlier that day, my daughter and I driven down that same section of the interstate. It was a surreal moment.

In true Volunteer State style, the entire city pulled together. People would go into neighborhoods they didn't even live in and start helping people pull out carpet and drywall and damaged furniture. Donations poured in, meals were made and distributed, shelters were set-up for the displaced and benefit concerts were held.

Right in the middle of all that was the Sweatt family. Even though their school was severely damaged, they offered shelter, food, water, and clothing as well helping people find the assistance they needed to restart their lives. And so when I heard that the Extreme Makeover Home Edition team was coming to Nashville to help them out and get their school operational again, I felt that was the perfect way to benefit a lot of people at one time.

One thing that was very frustrating was the lack of media attention we received while the flood was happening. It warms my heart to know that the folks at Extreme Makeover Home Edition paid attention and that Nashville's story and the Sweatt's story will be heard. We've come a long way since May but there is still much to be done. I hope Sunday's episode will showcase the spirit of our community and remind people that we still have a ways to go before our city is really back on it's feet again.

The Lighthouse School/Sweatt Family episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition airs this Sunday on ABC at 7/8 EST.

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