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When First Universalist Church of Camp Hill, Alabama, applied for the UUA’s Disaster Relief Fund following a seismic hailstorm that damaged its historic building in the spring of 2023, the goal was simple: fix the damage to the sanctuary’s roof.
“We knew we needed to repair the roof of our church, which is the oldest Unitarian Universalist church in Alabama,” said Rev. Darcy Corbitt, minister of the thirty-two-member congregation. “But before turning to our building, we needed to help the community with repairs.”
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That sentiment resonated deeply with congregant Warren Tidwell, executive director of the Alabama Center for Rural Organizing and Systemic Solutions (ACROSS). “This is a community of people that lacked the capacity to respond to a major weather event,” said Tidwell, who has twenty-five years of experience in disaster relief.
The community looked to the state and to the federal government for assistance, Tidwell said, but was denied a FEMA declaration, which would have made it eligible for up to $1 million in material funding. “Without the declaration, we couldn’t get it,” Tidwell said. “There were close to 1,000 people without food, including twenty seniors over 85. We needed tarps to cover roofs and had to find $50,000 in resources just for repairs.”
As the congregation prepared to help Camp Hill residents, tragedy struck again. On April 15, 2023, four young people—Marsiah Collins, 19; Shaunkiva “KeKe” Smith, 17; Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, 18; and Corbin Dahmontrey Holston, 23—were killed in a mass shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party in neighboring Dadeville. Twenty-eight others were also injured. The two communities shared not only tragedy but also demographics—both areas are mostly low-income and Black, groups who are often forgotten in broader narratives such as mainstream media reporting.
“We didn’t get the same level of [media] coverage you see in other areas,” Corbitt said. “Everyone pretty much gave up on our town.” Tidwell echoed this sentiment, noting that “racist beliefs and systemic racism” contributed to how these tragedies were perceived. “Gun violence is treated differently [by the media] when it occurs in Black communities.”
“We leaned into our covenant with the community and with each other, answering the call to love.”
For many residents, the dual losses were overwhelming. Tidwell shared a poignant example: “In one case, the family of a student who was paralyzed in the shooting was already displaced by the storm.”
In response to these compounded challenges, “We leaned into our covenant with the community and with each other, answering the call to love,” Corbitt said. First Universalist extended the use of the UUA funds it received to tarp damaged homes and organize a mass food pantry to address immediate needs, ensuring that no family went hungry in the aftermath of both tragedies. Perhaps most importantly, the congregation provided care to the grieving and traumatized, offering both physical space and emotional support to those caught in the throes of these tragedies.
“When the local government gave up on our community, our congregation didn’t,” Corbitt said, emphasizing members’ unwavering commitment.
“What the people have done is remarkable,” Tidwell added. “I asked, ‘How does this community keep moving forward with such resilience?’ One resident told me, ‘We’re going to be fine because we’ve always been fine. We’ve had to.’ That gave me hope.”