Four people died and 20 were injured when a tornado ripped through several counties in southwest Michigan on March 6. Trinity Church in Three Rivers was spared the brunt of the twister, which had estimated winds of at least 160 miles per hour. The congregation reported no fatalities or injuries, and its building was undamaged.
The parish is part of the Diocese of the Great Lakes, which encompasses 58 counties in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.
“The tornado kind of bounced around and skipped over the actual downtown section, which is where our food site and the church is — two blocks from downtown,” said Bill Monroe, a native of Three Rivers who was baptized and confirmed at Trinity. But he noted that the southern section, a poorer part of town, was heavily hit; a nursing home and a Roman Catholic church suffered structural damage.
In the aftermath of the calamity, the Three Rivers Community Kitchen served hot meals to those in need, with the parish also providing restroom access. The community kitchen, referred to as Soup Pot by Trinity’s parishioners, is a ministry that began in 1988, when parishioners started serving soup in the parish hall on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.
Over the years, the meals expanded from soup to full dinners and is now an ecumenical effort, with volunteers from nearby Christian communities, including St. John’s Lutheran Church and Ninth Street United Methodist Church, taking part. In line with tradition, dinners are served twice a week, but during the weekend after the tornado, additional nights were added with the support of the American Red Cross, United Way, and local businesses.
The Rev. Nicole Smith, a Lutheran pastor who leads Trinity Church, said that volunteers from the parish and St. John’s Lutheran came together to offer an additional day of the community kitchen, as many residents were without power. Many of those served were either homeless or experiencing housing instability and were “kind of trying to figure out where to go.”
When Smith spoke to The Living Church, she said the ministry is preparing to serve more people. They usually serve up to 80 meals during regular Tuesday and Thursday dinners. They served about 20 additional meals after the tornado and are preparing for more, especially as larger nonprofits shift their focus to other emergency areas.
The pastor, who is able to serve the parish through the Episcopal Church’s full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said local churches are also providing cleaning supplies. She noted how people of faith are bearing witness in these trying times for their community.
“We’re here and we’re not going anywhere,” Smith said, as she reflected on Romans 8, where Paul the Apostle spoke about how things work together for good for those who have faith in God. “Even in the midst of this awful disaster, you still have the triune God made present and embodied by the faithful who are, in the case of Trinity, providing hot meals.”
Monroe and other Trinity parishioners are also involved in running one of the largest food pantries in the area, which has also seen an uptick in clients, as some lost their homes and are in need of food.
The parish’s youngest worshippers are also helping with recovery efforts. Smith’s children, Timothy and Titus, who are 5 and 4 years old, respectively, witnessed the extensive damage caused by the tornado when Smith drove them around.
“They wanted to do something to help, so they came up with the idea of first we were going to pray for everybody who was hurt and for the first responders and the utility workers,” Smith said, noting that many of those individuals were functioning on very little sleep as they cleared downed power lines and assisted residents in affected areas.
The children also embodied their prayers by baking cupcakes and brownies and making hand-drawn pictures as encouragement for their schoolteachers, who were assessing the condition of the campus. Timothy and Titus also gave away baked goods to first responders and thanked them for helping the community.
WTVB reported that Federal Emergency Management Agency teams visited southwest Michigan on March 17 to survey the damage caused by the tornadoes earlier this month. The findings will be presented to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who may use them to request federal assistance.
You can support the Three Rivers Community Kitchen by clicking here.
Caleb Maglaya Galaraga is The Living Church’s Episcopal Church reporter. His work has also appeared in Christianity Today, Broadview Magazine, and Presbyterian Outlook, among other publications.
