Will Fischer, community services coordinator at the AFL-CIO, sends us this update from Oklahoma:

May 31, 2013, 7:30 p.m.: The alarm sounded. It was a house fire. As the firefighters gathered and donned their gear, the sky turned an eerie yellow-gray, signaling a severe storm. The rain came down in sheets. This was Moore, Okla.; a town reeling from some of the most devastating tornadoes on record—and another lurked overhead.

While recovery operations continue in Moore, Okla., after one of the worst and deadliest tornadoes on record, relief efforts are still underway. The Oklahoma State AFL-CIO and central labor council community service liaisons are working through the United Way.  

When Jim Pulley, a UAW member in Spring Hill, Tenn., saw the devastation caused by the tornadoes that hit Moore, Okla., he jumped into action and set up collection boxes at all of the General Motors Co. (GM) plant entrances in his hometown. His union, Local 1853, expanded on his initiative by involving its Community Services Committee. GM and community groups also got involved. Ten days later, the combined efforts of the union and the community resulted in three semi-trailer truckloads of supplies headed to help the tornado survivors.

When the tornado hit Moore, Okla., on Monday, International Union of Police Associations (IUPA) members Andrew Terry, Jay Keehn, Michael Myers and David Carpenter were quick to respond to the tragedy in their hometown. All of the members of IUPA Local 3 offered their services, as did members of numerous other locals in the area. The response was so overwhelming that officials on the ground had to put many volunteers on standby.

If you are a union member who participates in Union Plus programs and have been affected by the recent tornadoes that struck the Midwest, you may be eligible for financial assistance.

Doug May, a communications intern at the United Steelworkers, sends us this.

Volunteers from United Steelworkers (USW) locals from the South and Midwest aided communities this spring after a burst of tornadoes killed more than 500 and left a swath of destruction.

John Padget, AFL-CIO Community Services liaison with the Black Hawk Union Council, sends us this report.

The Black Hawk County UAW Local 838 Community Services Committee in Waterloo, Iowa, knows how important it is to be prepared when nature strikes in the Midwest. In June, Lee Bedore, Bryan Cue and I put on a class for UAW members in CERT (Community Emergency Response Team).

AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer sends this report from the Pioneer Valley (Mass.) Central Labor Council.

Last week, hundreds, if not thousands, of our friends and neighbors suffered life-changing setbacks as a result of the tornados that devastated our region. To help ease the financial burden on these unfortunate families, the Pioneer Valley AFL-CIO‘s charitable organization, the Union Community Fund, is launching a special Tornado Disaster Relief effort.

Terry Davis, the AFL-CIO Community Service liaison from the Central Alabama Labor Federation in Birmingham, sends us this update on how unions are continuing their outreach to help the victims last month’s series of deadly tornadoes.

Doug Flateau, from Working Partnerships in Minnesota, sends us this first-hand report of union assistance to victims of the tornado that ripped through North Minneapolis.

The region in North Minneapolis affected by Sunday’s tornado is mainly residential, with few businesses and no union halls in the area. Click here for a map of the tornado “exclusion zone,” along with its path through the neighborhood.