Duluth’s Jesus Is Life Ministries Brings Aid Following Midwest Tornadoes

Two vans packed up earlier this week with supplies, leaving Duluth for Iowa

DULUTH, Minn. — A church in West Duluth continues its tradition of helping people at disaster sites across the country.

This last week the Jesus is Life Ministries church from West Duluth decided to head to Minden, Iowa a small city in the southwestern part of that state. The decision to help this small town was largely made because tornadoes struck this small town of 590 residents twice in ten days. Nearly 50 homes were destroyed.

The Jesus is Life Ministries Crisis Response team arrived in the city late Wednesday afternoon. Led by the pastor of the church Dan Stone Sr.

“We’re gonna head to Iowa, to help out down there,” Stone said earlier this week. “They got hit pretty hard. So, we’re loading up and we’re gonna go tomorrow morning, head down there. I don’t know how long we’ll be there, but its going to be an awesome trip to get down there and help these people.”

Two full vans, a trailer, and people brought supplies, including clothing, cleaning supplies, chainsaws, and generators, even lights so that they can keep working even in the dark.

When they arrived in Minden so many homes were so damaged that authorities were not allowing anyone to enter the area. That did not deter the volunteers they moved to another city that had been damaged by one of the many tornadoes in the past two weeks.

“I’m here in Barnsdall, Oklahoma, where the tornado just recently ripped through,” Stone told Fox21 via video. “There’s a lot of disaster here. People are working hard to clean it up.”

This isn’t the first time the group has done this. For more than ten years Stone and church members have headed out across the country when disaster strikes, bringing relief.