By: John A. Brimley

Services happened like normal at Calvary Baptist Church, the Red Cross shelter location in Little Rock. Parishioners filed into the church dressed in their Sunday’s best of suits and dresses. Cars filled each corner and crevasse on the corner of Pierce Street and Cantrell Road. The parking was full, just like every other Sunday.   

This Sunday was different. Not because church was different. As regular Calvary Baptist churchgoers attended Easter services in the campus sanctuary, just across the street in the Family Life Center cots covered the gym floor and several individuals and families displaced by the March 31 tornado that swept across Central Arkansas occupied the space.

Dressed in the clothes they could salvage, a few shelter clients joined worship with the other Calvary churchgoers. It wasn’t traditional by any means. Easter Sunday worshippers usually find themselves in the finest suits and most colorful dresses they could find. While it wasn’t quite that scene for those leaving the shelter for service, shelter worker Lakyn Webb was just glad to see some semblance of normalcy for those affected by the destruction of the tornado.

“Easter Sunday’s a big deal for a lot of people,” said Webb. “For Calvary to open their arms and embrace our shelter residents by offering Easter Sunday service to them, means a great deal to our clients.”

For volunteers Danny and Kathy Bates, this is their first disaster and it’s been an emotional one.

“Many of the clients who wanted to go to church went,” said Kathy. “Your heart goes out to them because you can kind of feel what they’re feeling and it’s emotional.”

Shelters are often chosen when there isn’t family or friends or other temporary housing options. For those who stay in a shelter, it’s a chance to take a breath and collect themselves. The two Sundays the shelter’s been open, Calvary carried on with business as usual.

On April 2, the first Sunday the shelter was open, Calvary hosted their Spring Fest, which was open to everyone. Shelter residents made their way outside for food and fun. It likely wasn’t the Sunday afternoon they’re used to. On Easter Sunday, they hosted service as normal.

“Calvary has been a wonderful partner,” said Webb. “For as much as shelters can be strange and unfamiliar, we along with Calvary have been nothing but gracious. Whenever their doors have been open, they’ve invited our residents and you can’t ask for more than that.”