FRANKLIN, Texas — April 13, 2019 was meant to be an exciting day for students at Franklin High School. Not only were there some sporting events going on, many of its students were preparing for the biggest dance of the year: High School Prom. If you've ever been on a prom planning committee, then the stress to make sure it's perfect for everyone can be overpowering.
All of it came to an end around 11 a.m. that morning after a tornado tore through Franklin, leaving a path of devastation in its wake. No one was killed, but it left the community reeling as more than 50 people lost their homes and left many buildings, including the high school, damaged. The tornado was later classified as an EF-3.
"A lot of the families lost trailer houses and their houses and homes," Brent Buckley of the Franklin Student Council said. "They were just ripped and torn apart."
This isn't a sad story. It's one of hope. The community of Franklin continues to rebuild, seven months after the storm hit and people are getting a big boost, thanks to the hard work of its students.
They didn't cry over the loss of their big dance; they rolled up their sleeves and got to work. The student council designed T-shirts and began selling them in an effort to help raise money for tornado recovery. The storm caused nearly $4 million dollars in damage.
"We were able to raise over $32,000 for our tornado victims through online sales and selling shirts in the school parking lots," said Buckley.
That money isn't just going into another general fund. It's being used for things people need as their homes are continuing to be rebuilt. Franklin Furniture teamed up with the students and offered to help them, help others.
People who were affected by the disaster were able to come into the store and fill out an application for the items they lost and the student council used its money to help fulfill those needs.
"We wanted to keep the money local that they raised in the community," said Shannon Groves, who is head of the council. She said she is grateful to the local business for helping them when they needed it the most. "It made it so easy for our applicants to come in, sit down and order the things they needed." The store even helped with the budget and took care of the ordering and delivery of the items. "The project would not have been able to happen without them."
Franklin Furniture and the student council are continuing to work together to help put the community back together.
"We're at a point now where we can start helping them rebuild and get back on their feet," Groves said. "There's still a lot of rebuilding to do here in Franklin, but with our ability to help these families, at least they're trying to rebuild and kind of get settled back."
When the student council put "Franklin Strong" on their shirts, it had no doubts about the strength of the community and the hearts of their people. "I feel like the tornado really rallied and gathered the community together," said student council member Jocelyn Tippett."We realized we really needed to do something."
MORE ON THE FRANKLIN TORNADO:
- Franklin baseball using April's tornado as motivation during playoff push
- Franklin community gifted flag that flew over tornado wreckage
- Bryan restaurants lend support to Franklin tornado victims with fundraiser
- Franklin High School students selling "Franklin Strong" shirts for tornado relief
- Rockdale hosts fundraiser for Franklin after tornado