The Absentee Shawnee Tribal Community was hit by a F4 tornado on May 10, 2010. In the weeks following the storm, as tribal members struggled to deal with the devastation, the community was hit by severe straightline winds that were tornadic strength which did additional damage to homes. This was followed by a hail storm with between baseball to softball sized stones which devastated everything else. A tribal police car was totaled by the hail alone. ASTI was requested by the Absentee Shawnee Tribal Governor to spearhead the collections of funds and resources for the disaster relief effort. A number of tribal homes were destroyed, more significantly damaged and a large number of the community was left without power or water (they are dependent upon water wells which need power to operate) for an extended period. In the weeks following the storms, the Absentee Shawnee Tribe provided over 4,000 hot meals to members of the community, both Tribal and not as everyone gathered together to try and help the community members get back on their feet.
A donation account has been set up at BancFirst in Tecumseh, Oklahoma -- donations can be made to the bank directly targeted to the ASTI Disaster Relief Fund. Electronic Donations can be made by linking to the tribal website at www.astribe.com via paypal. Donations of clothing, household goods, etc. were welcomed but currently the greatest need is for old fashioned cash. Please donate if you can today to help our tribal community recover from these storms.