The powerful tornadoes that devastated Lee County, Alabama, not only shattered homes, they sent photographs, diaries and other precious family heirlooms flying for miles.
People have been finding these treasures while cleaning up after the deadly storms and are using Facebook to reunite them with their owners.
Beauregard resident Heather Lake Jones told CNN that she was “very blessed with no damage” from the tornado and wanted to do something to help.
Her friend, Michelle Vann, urged her to start the Lost Treasures and Photographs for Beauregard Tornado Victims Facebook group after they had seen a lot of people sharing photos of the things they’d found.
“The power of Facebook is amazing,” Jones said. “I have often wondered what I would do if I lost all of my pictures to a fire or something like this. They are irreplaceable treasures.”
Angelita Hitchcock came to the group on Wednesday in hopes that some of her children’s baby pictures might have turned up.
She was at home with her husband and two of their three children when a tornado tore the roof off their home and twisted it up “like a pretzel,” she said. They barely had a chance to make it to safety, much less think about belongings.
“We didn’t even have time to get to a bathroom or anything, but we have an interior hallway and we just hunkered down there,” she said.
Hitchcock said she had taken most of her family photos to their work shed so she could make a photo book for her oldest daughter Aryana’s high school graduation.
The shed was destroyed.
Hitchcock said she did find a few photos of her kids when they were older, but she was sure their baby photos were gone.
But on Thursday, Jessica Griggs posted photos that someone brought to Providence Baptist Church while dropping off some donations.
Griggs told CNN that she doesn’t know who the person was, or where the photos were found.
Within an hour, a friend recognized the picture of Hitchcock and Aryana, which was taken when she was about 2.
“I am so thankful,” Hitchcock said.
Hitchcock has lived in the area since she was 7 and knows pretty much everyone in town because she works at Beauregard’s only pharmacy.
“We are such a strong community, we all know each other, so she [her friend] saw that picture and she knew it was me,” Hitchcock said.
Cherished motorcycle vest recovered
Relatives of Marshall Lynn Grimes, one of the 23 people killed in the tornadoes, also reached out to the group.
One person responded that she had found a piece of his mail 26 miles away in Salem.
“It’s not anything valuable but it was his,” she said and offered to mail it to the family.
Grimes’ stepdaughter, Brooke Waldrop, had asked for help finding his black motorcycle vest.
He was the local president of a Christian motorcycle club.
CNN affiliate WSFA reports that the vest was found and that the family plans to have a shadow box made to preserve it.
