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By Travis Gupton

The Selma Times-Journal

Wallace Community College-Selma has done several things to help the city of Selma since the January 12 tornado ransacked the city.

Nearly two months later, WCCS is still helping the community.

WCCS teamed with Shelton State Community College at its campus on Wednesday, giving away supplies to local residents.

Shelton State President Dr. Chris Cox said it was a no-brainer for him and his staff to donate to Selma.

“Tuscaloosa is very familiar with tornadoes and devastation,” Cox said. “When it hits somewhere else, especially a college that is our neighbor and we work well with Dr. James Mitchell and his team. So, it came from our team. Our team decided they would come in and that we wanted to do something. We pulled together to get donations. Then coming in and being able to feed the community is just a blessing for us to be able to serve and help folks. In the community college, that’s our mission is to help people. We certainly want to help our neighbors and we are just trying to do that the best we can.” 

Within the first hour of the giveaway, most of the supplies were given out. Cox and Mitchell saw the remaining debris that remained in Selma.

“It’s devastating to see the devastation,” Cox said. “We know there is going to be a continued need. We’ll keep in touch with Dr. Mitchell to make sure if there is anything that they need from us. We will help any way we can.”

After the tornado, WCCS started helping the community recover. Mitchell said it’s been a group effort to help the citizens of Selma and Shelton State was another big part of the recovery process.

“We’re very honored and humbled by Shelton State, Dr. Cox, his staff, and his community for taking this on,” Mitchell said. “Oftentimes, people can decide ‘Well I don’t live there it’s not my problem’ they have stepped up as the old saying goes. Stepped up and stepped out. We are really very honored to have them here. We truly thank them and want them to know that the citizens of Selma truly value them.”

Mitchell said despite being almost two months removed from the tornado,  there is still a great need in the community and WCCS will continue helping.

“We know that there are people that still need help,” Mitchell said. “We are planning other clothes give away on this campus. We don’t have an exact date yet but we are planning to do that and we are going to do it outside where anybody can come that wants to. As I’ve always said we live in this community. While it didn’t impact us directly it did impact us because we live here and we have got to take care of people and help.”