Originally posted at Amos House Community:

Thanks to all who have been actively supporting the residents at Tent City through e-mails, prayers, and donations. There is another opportunity to show support Thursday, June 3rd at Living Word Community Church on Hickory Hollow Pkwy at 6:30pm. We encourage you to attend as peaceful and supportive witnesses to the gospel and to the human rights and civil rights of our marginalized brothers and sisters. A group of us will be meeting in the parking lot of Woodbine Presbyterian Church on Nolensville Rd. at 5:45pm to pray and carpool to the meeting. We’re unsure as to how the meeting will unfold, but we’re prepared for there to be some hateful words spoken. We hope to see you at Woodbine or later at “Living Word”. If you are unable to attend, please pray with us as we continue on the journey.

Also, below is the list of items we still need:

• Pots and Pans
• Propane
• Long candle sticks
• Flashlights and Batteries
• All Day Bus Passes
• Camping Chairs
• Utensils, Plates and Cups
• Ice (one time and daily deliveries)
• Host a Meal (coordinate through ingrid.mcintyre@gmail.com)
• Hair Cuts, Shaves & Foot Care/Pedicures (coordinate throughingrid.mcintyre@gmail.com)
• ***Make 2 Shower Facilities (that don’t require running water)***
• Laundry

We are asking that most donations be coordinated through Doug Sanders (doug@ottercreek.org) and Amos House because we’ve heard rumors that a couple of people at the camp have been hoarding donations and possibly selling a couple of things. It’s not the worst thing in the world, but we know who has what and where there are needs. Small things like candles, ice, food, and toiletries are fine to be taken out there and left in the donations tent. But we are storing the bigger donations and giving them out daily as there is need… just something to consider.

Channel 4 news did a nice story highlighting some of the purpose and tragedy of tent city. As it stands now, the Cumberland River did a number to the Tent City site. It is now considered a condemned hazardous site that you need full hepatitis shots and haz-mat suits to go into. We won’t be putting people back there any time soon.

We had and have plans to move Tent City to another location, but that location is not set yet. All residents are currently living in shelters, but many of those shelters may close at any point and time (though many are staying open as long as they can just so they don’t have to put residents onto the street).

We are pleading out there to our compassionate Nashville community for someone to donate 2 acres of land for 2 months time to set up a temporary site as we work on a permanent location.

NOTE: I don’t know what codes issues might hinder this for businesses or churches (I am sure there is one or two), but if you have some land give serious prayer, conversation & consideration to doing something very special.

The JOY FM in Tampa, FL is holding a drive to collect items for the residents of Tent City in support of SaveTentCity.  They will be at Lifeway Christian Bookstore in Brandon, FL on Thursday, May 13th, from 3-7pm.  See details here.

Here is our psuedo official Drop Site Poster (if you make up your own, we won’t be bothered). It has some fancy graphic stuff I put together and leaves a bunch of room at the bottom to draw arrows or write your own directions of where to drop items.

If you wish to become a drop site officially give Brian an email with contact information and site information. With our drop site list we will coordinate getting materials to the Tent City site when it is deemed suitable for safe return.

Download : Nashville Tent City Drop Site Poster

This is a re-posting from Doug Sanders blog, who is a long standing advocate and respected friend to the people of Tent City.

Tent City is gone…. The floods of the last few days have caused the waters of the Cumberland to raise higher than many long-time Nashvillians can remember. As many of you know, Tent City is built in the flood plane of the Cumberland under the Sylman-Evans bridges. Until today it was hard for me to imagine that the water could ever really be high enough to flood that area. But now I’m a believer. I started getting calls late yesterday that the water was rising but really had no idea that it was as serious as it turned out to be. So starting this morning Inner City Ministries provided a school bus and we started evacuating Tent City residents and their animals. The Red Cross sat up a shelter at Lipscomb and the Humane Shelter provided a trailer for pets. I took 2 loads of folks and their pets and they were more than happy to get out of there. They were wet and frustrated – they had lost everything except what they could carry out – tents, shacks, beds, clothes, books, everything. By the time I got there, the portable toilets were floating in over four feet of water. But the good news is that everyone that wanted to leave for the shelter was able to get out. A few folks decided they would go to higher ground and stay and a few went to stay with friends. There were a few other camps that we also evacuated yesterday. Since the shelters had not yet been set up we ended up taking them to the Drake Motel. Thanks to everyone who pitched in to help.

But this means that once the water recedes we’ll be faced with helping nearly 140 people get their lives back together. If you are reading this would you consider getting your church and your place of business to start a tent and sleeping bag drive? We’ll also be needing clothing and just about everything else you can imagine.

I want to say I couldn’t be more proud to be a member of Otter Creek. For the past several months Otter Creek has been working towards today as the culmination of a fundraiser for a new kindergarten addition. There was a big breakfast planned along with a service centered on asking folks to make pledges for the campaign. But the weather had different plans. Early this morning the power went off at the building. The caterers were already there setting up the breakfast. The organizers were there putting the final touches on the events for the day. But no sooner had the power gone off and the flood warnings started to come in than the folks put their heads together and started trying to figure out what to do. Within an hour it was clear that the event would not take place today. That could be rescheduled. But what to do with the breakfast? With no hesitation or concern for the investment, the call was made and plans were put in place to take an incredible breakfast to the Red Cross shelter where the Tent City folks were staying. Almost sounds biblical… And then the organizers decided that it was more important to get everyone together to pray for the people affected by the storm than worry about the fundraiser. There was tremendous effort put into the plans for today. But without any hesitation, those plans were delayed so we could all pray and roll up our sleeves to help our community. Now that’s the Otter Creek I know and love and am proud to serve. They’ll be plenty of time for the fundraiser, but for now let’s focus on helping others – I think that’s what Jesus would be doing…

Stone Soup Productions has a number of videos of the many residents who have called Tent City home for a period of time. Here is Ted, who no longer has his dwelling at Tent City.

It is hard to fathom all that has & is happening to Nashville. Some of the “deeper” reflections

This is a pic I took from middle of March when I was down at Tent City. All the homes in the area are now gone, which totaled around 85 tents. When the waters recede our homeless population, and new homeless individuals, will be using Tent City for emergency housing.

Undoubtedly, you’ve heard about the unreal amounts of rain that affected Middle Tennessee.  One- and Two-day rain totals were broken as well as the record for the month of May.  In only two days, we had a higher rain total than in any previous month of May.  This has resulted in catastrophic flooding throughout the greater Nashville area.

One of the hardest hit areas is downtown Nashville.  Last night the Cumberland River overflowed into our city. The last report received state the River at 49 ft, which is 9 ft above flood levels.  It is now reaching 2nd avenue.  One area that was greatly effected, but isn’t getting much attention, is Tent City, Nashville’s largest homeless community.  They were evacuated yesterday, but they were unable to take most of their belongings with them.  Primarily left behind were their tents, sleeping bags, tarps, and camp stoves, etc.  In response to this, we are organizing a drive to collect these items to help them stay warm and dry and rebuild once the river recedes.

If you have a sleeping bag, tent, tarp, camp stove, pillows, or any other camping gear in good condition that you don’t really use, would you donate it? Or would you buy some to donate? Or simply donate money or a gift card, so that new tents and sleeping bags can be bought and distributed? We have set up drop-off points throughout the Middle Tennessee area.  If you cannot get your donation to one of these locations, please contact me so we can have someone come and get it.   If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via email: brian@senecal.us or phone/text: 615-428-8989.

If your church is willing to serve as a drop off point please contact me and I will add you to the list below.

More then anything, please be praying for everyone affected by this flood.  Many in Nashville have lost everything or close to it.  Thank you so much for your help and prayers!! The city of Nashville will rebuild!

Stay tuned here for updates.

Brian Senecal

Drop-off points:

• Fellowship Bible Church – 6360 Franklin Road, Murfreesboro, TN  (615) 893-6652 Contact: Chad Vinson
• Hendersonville First Methodist Church — 217 East Main St, Hendersonville, TN (615) 824-8725 Contact: Gavin Richardson
• Otter Creek Church of Christ — 409 Franklin Road, Brentwood, TN (615) 373-1782 Contact: Doug Sanders
• Hermitage UMC — 205 Belinda Dr, Hermitage, TN (615) 883-3918 Contact: Chris Seifert
• Cooks United Methodist Church – 7919 Lebanon Road Mt Juliet, TN 37122 (615) 449-2573 Contact: Lee Stevenson
• Crema Crema – 15 Hermitage Avenue, Nashville, TN 37210 (near shelby street bridge downtown) use Shed behind the Bldg
• more locations coming