By Staff
Recently, my family and I were involved in an auto accident on Lowrey Landing Road in the Appleton community. We had just left our Church Parking Lot and had gone only three hundred yards when it happened. It was very devastating for our family when the tire on our Ford Explorer blew out and we flipped and skidded on our top and then rolled five to six times before finally coming to a stop right-side-up.
It is obvious that the Lord was with us because we all crawled out alive to give Him praise for keeping us.
There are others that we need to give praise and thanks to. Of course our wonderful church family at Appleton First Assembly of God was immediately on the scene. Everyone was just leaving church and immediately got word to our pastor who was still at the church. They were all there for us that day and the days that followed. We know in our hearts that our church family will always be there for us but we never want to take them for granted.
However, there were two other individuals that were there immediately as well. They were volunteers Michael Moore and Chris Smith of the Appleton Community Volunteer Fire Department. I had no idea who they were but was glad that they were there to care for our injuries until the ambulance could arrive.
After we left in the ambulance, Mr. Moore and Mr. Smith stayed for over an hour to wait for the State Troopers to arrive and to give details of the accident. They stayed to clean up the mess and to direct the traffic. They stayed through it all.
It was nearly three weeks later that I found out who those two guys were. I didn't even recognize Mr. Moore when he stopped to check on how we were doing. I realized just how caring our Volunteer Fire Department was. I would like to thank these guys, Michael Moore and Chris Smith for what they did for me and my family. Thank you to their families who gave up their time with them when these guys had to rush out to help people that they didn't even know.
We all need to be like those volunteers. If we can't physically help out or volunteer, maybe we could ask what we could do to help in other ways. One way that my family has helped is by giving monthly contributions through our power bill each month to the fire department. This letter is just another way to say thanks to all who volunteer at the fire department in our community. It is the least that I could do.
This accident opened my eyes to the fact that there are people out there giving of their own time and lives to help others and I need to be more attentive to this and help out however I can.
My family and I were glad that there were willing Volunteers on the day of our accident. They were there for us and I am sure they will be there for you should you ever need them. Let's be there for them.
Lesia M. Jones
Brewton