ST. LOUIS – North St. Louis continues to recover from a storm that destroyed homes, snapped powerlines, and uprooted trees as well as lives. But on Sunday, a grassroots relief effort delivered both supplies and hope to one hard-hit corner.

The Big Give Back proved to be a show of unity, compassion, and action, as dozens of organizations came together at Soll’s Gateway Market in the Fountain Park neighborhood with one mission: help tornado victims get back on their feet.

The relief effort brought together organizations such as Emerging Business Leaders, Bridge the Gap 314, and the cities of Bellefontaine Neighbors and Dellwood. These groups coordinated to offer a range of services and supplies to the community.

Parkway Schools contributed over 200 boxes of nonperishable food items, while nurses conducted health screenings for attendees. Savers Thrift Store provided clothing to those in need.

A Red Circle and Fathers & Families Support Center distributed backpacks, books, toiletries, and even carried water to elderly residents in their cars.

The Big Give Back demonstrated the community’s resilience and commitment to supporting each other in the aftermath of the tornado, as organizations and volunteers came together to provide much-needed aid.

“Every day, we waking up, like, thankful for the hot meals that’s out here, the community giving out diapers and wipes, you know, cause this stuff that we need! Especially people like myself, that lost everything and still taking a loss,” tornado victim Jolena Nelson said.

“But I wish the community would do better which is these programs that are out here that say they’ll help, but it’s people like myself with babies that has to sleep in a motor house. We don’t have the loved ones we can turn to and get the help from.”

Volunteers didn’t just hand out supplies — they went door to door making sure neighbors were safe, healthy, and not alone.

“When people lost their power, and they are on oxygen or ventilators, that means we have to hurry up and get them to the hospital. So today, we had people walking into the community going door-to-door, bringing the packages,” nurse Kenyatta Griffin said.

“When I say ‘packages,’ I mean like soap, deodorant, depends, food to their home. And we were also networking to say ‘Hey, do you need to go to the hospital?’ ‘Do you need to go to the nursing home?’ ‘Do you need us to bring a social worker to you?’ Like, what more can we do?”

Many victims arrived with nothing, not even shoes, and left with not only necessities, but hope.

“People came; some even had the rolling carts because cars are destroyed. They couldn’t get here and all of that,” Twyla Lee, organizer of The Big Give Back, said.

“It was even some that didn’t have shoes and whatever, so, they were so thankful to put on the clothes and shoes here. Children as well, they love the Crocs, so they were like, ‘Ah!’ They put them into sports mode, and it’s just been a really great day of community.”

Lee and the other organizers are not done. Next Saturday, they’ll move 40 people currently living in tents into tony mobile homes, which they say is another step closer toward recovery and dignity.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KTVI. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KTVI staff before being published.