Tragedy in Alabama
You can read about us in the June 12, 2011 issue of Parade Magazine: http://tinyurl.com/6bejyzp. (Or just Google us. Every major media outlet around the world told our story at one point or another.)
Phil and Phyllis Campbells from around the world are helping the small, tornado-devastated town of Phil Campbell, Alabama, but they can’t do it alone.
A tornado devastated the 1,000-person town of Phil Campbell on the afternoon of April 27th, 2011. Its 175 mile-per-hour winds cut a path twelve miles long and half a mile wide. A hundred homes, two churches, a gas station, and a number of retail stores were utterly destroyed, and more than 26 people were killed.
So many months later, the town has still not recovered from the incident.
Serious Needs, Serious Mission
The group of Phil and Phyllis Campbells – and Philips, Phillips, Felipes, and Philippes, and other derivations of the name “Phil” – was originally organized by the Brooklyn writer Phil Campbell as a quirky stunt called the “International Phil Campbell Convention.” The original point of gathering together so many people with the same name was to help the town of Phil Campbell throw a big, fun party on the celebration of its 100th anniversary.
The tornado changed everything. The Phil Campbell High School will have to be torn down, putting a strain on the area’s ability to educate its youth. Many have been left homeless. Some, having lost all their worldly possessions, struggled to pay for funeral services for family members who died in the tornado.
The Phil Campbells of the world hope you can donate money to assist the town of Phil Campbell. Your donation will go to a locally created non-profit organized to address the town's biggest needs -- from strategic business planning to re-greening the town -- that local government is unable to do due to a serious lack of resources.
"I'm with Phil"
Please be on the look-out for the documentary chronicling the Phil Campbells of the world. The documentary, "I'm with Phil," is our next effort to keep this story alive, raise awareness and money for the town.