Volunteers pour into South after tornadoes

[The Northerner]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala (Reuters) – Unemployed social worker Betty Perry walked out of the Red Cross shelter in downtown Birmingham barefoot after giving her shoes to a woman whose own pair was blown off in the storm.

"Someone else needed the shoes more than I do," Perry said on Saturday of her gesture after the devastating tornadoes that swept the South earlier this week and hit Alabama particularly hard.

Perry is one of thousands of people who have poured into the battered region, or locals who have volunteered to help clean up. They are offering food and drink, shelter for the homeless and in some cases literally their own possessions.

Perry's daughter, Birmingham City Councilwoman Kim Rafferty, worked a 27-hour shift at the Birmingham shelter starting on Wednesday afternoon. Perry's friend, Margie Robertson, came straight from her own cancer radiation treatment to sweep the floors and comfort storm victims at the shelter.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110430/us_nm/us_usa_weather_volunteers

[bahrbearian]

1. I thought Black Water was suppose to secure the area 1st