{"id":197817,"date":"2024-06-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=197817"},"modified":"2024-06-14T01:10:02","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T01:10:02","slug":"compassion-drives-tornado-relief-in-temple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=197817","title":{"rendered":"Compassion drives tornado relief in Temple"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n A photo shows the damage done to a house May 24, 2024, in Temple, Texas, after a tornado caused destruction in the city.
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\n Volunteers pose along with the Weicht family after volunteering June 8, 2024, at a home in Belton, Texas. First Sgt. Robert Weicht, Headquarters Support Company, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, III Armored Corps, and his wife Britnia started a group of volunteers to help with cleaning up damage after two tornadoes blew through an area of Belton and Temple, Texas.
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TEMPLE, Texas\u00a0\u2014<\/strong> Two tornadoes ranking EF-1 and EF-2 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale tore through an area of Belton, Texas, and West Temple May 22, leaving destruction in their wake.<\/p>\n

The next day, 1st Sgt. Robert Weicht, Headquarters Support Company, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, III Armored Corps, and his wife Britnia went to the scene and were horrified by the destruction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pictures that were being posted don\u2019t really do it justice,\u201d Robert said. \u201cWe went up and drove around and saw how bad it really was, and we came home. We didn\u2019t really sleep much that night because it was constantly on our mind. It was devastating to witness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Britnia agreed, adding the most impactful moment for her happened while she, Robert and their teenage daughter were helping clean up debris in a subdivision in Temple.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you first go in, it looked like there was only a little bit of damage, and then you turn to the next street and these big, nice, beautiful houses were just complete rubble,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t even know how people could crawl out of it. We pulled up to a house that was a two-story house, and an entire side of the second story was gone. There were two-by-fours sticking in the sides of people\u2019s houses. We jumped out and asked if we could help start trying to pick some of it up, and we were literally picking up children\u2019s toys everywhere. That was probably the most profound and heartbreaking moment for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

They felt called into action. Britnia posted on her Facebook page, asking if anyone needed help and she received a huge response.<\/p>\n

Since May 24, the Weichts, along with some Soldier volunteers from Weicht\u2019s unit, have spent any time they can volunteering and helping more than 95 families recover from the tornadoes including a single mom with two disabled children.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re working themselves to the bone to do everything they can to help these families,\u201d Robert said of the Soldiers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s constant. If there\u2019s a neighbor that looks like they need help, they\u2019ll go over there and talk to them and see if they need help in any way. It\u2019s just very great to see the amount of compassion that\u2019s growing through the Soldiers themselves to help everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Britnia agreed, adding the Soldiers have grown from being shy to outspoken and are learning new skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve changed quite a bit and there\u2019s a lot of things that the Soldiers are learning as well,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve helped do some home repairs that they\u2019re very unfamiliar with. Some of them weren\u2019t used to using chainsaws. They\u2019re learning a lot through this process as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Weichts said though much has been done, there is still so much to do. They are looking to start a nonprofit to help even more families and they set up a donation station in III Armored Corps Headquarters where nonperishable food and toiletries may be donated. They are also looking for more volunteers who feel called to help those in need in the Fort Cavazos community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing when we started that I kept thinking about is that we\u2019re all military people, we\u2019re all away from our families,\u201d Britnia said. \u201cIf something like this happened back home and I couldn\u2019t get back home I would want people to help take care of my family until I can get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe military\u2019s the best community that there is because we have that sense of teamwork and compassion, work ethic for each other and for our job,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the understanding that the surrounding areas are a part of our community. The installation directly affects every small town that\u2019s around it. Just because you don\u2019t live there doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not a part of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on how to get involved through volunteering or donating, reach out to 1st Sgt. Weicht by calling 605-305-8980 or Britnia Weicht by calling 573-466-9405. You can also contact Britnia on her Facebook page\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/787269993376707\/user\/1519071175<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 A photo shows the damage done to a house May 24, 2024, in Temple, Texas, after a tornado caused destruction in the city. (Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Britnia Weight) VIEW ORIGINAL 2 \/ 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Volunteers pose along with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197819,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-197817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=197817"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":197822,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197817\/revisions\/197822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/197819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=197817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=197817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=197817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}