Shaw University cleanup puts Raleigh tornado in perspective

See below for the Shaw University Cleanup slideshow.

Editor's note: This article combines reporting and commentary.

When disaster strikes, it's often hard to understand the magnitude of the event, especially if you weren't affected by it.

Many said N.C. State got lucky. Despite 25 tornadoes touching down in North Carolina last weekend, destroying over 138 Raleigh homes and causing more than $115 million in damage, N.C. State was virtually unaffected.

But others weren't so fortunate.

Shaw University, located in downtown Raleigh, was one of the hardest hit areas of the city. The university experienced so much damage the university's president canceled classes for the remainder of the semester.

In an effort to clear the extensive debris from its campus, Shaw University hosted a cleanup day Thursday afternoon, drawing in more than 800 students, alumni and members of the community.

For most people I spoke with at the event, including Jazsalyn McNeil, a freshman in fashion textile management, the decision to volunteer at the event stemmed from the stark realization that they narrowly escaped the same destruction.

McNeil said "There were serious tornadoes all around the state, and they just missed us. We're so blessed, and because of that I knew I had to help."

While I agreed with her sentiments, and I knew the tornadoes had caused a lot of damage, the true effects of the storms didn't hit me until about half-way through the cleanup.

The group of student I worked with focused on clearing the sidewalks and broken trees, but what struck me emotionally weren't the down power lines or slabs of broken shingles. It was finding someone's broken mixed CD with now-illegible writing on it.

Looking at the piles of more than 20 large, overfilled trash bags full of debris, I couldn't help but think that every single thing we picked up—every shingle, piece of shattered glass or destroyed belonging—is something someone worked hard for.

And now it will all have to be replaced.

Every fence will need to be mended, every broken window will need to be replaced and every tree ripped from the soil will need to be removed.

They'll have to start over.

But they won't have to do it alone. According to Julius Cromwell, a ‘58 Shaw alumnus, students and alumni from the following universities helped with the cleanup: Clemson, N.C. State, Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill, Peace College, Meredith College, North Carolina Central University, N.C. A&T, St. Augustine and Winston Salem State University.

"Right now we are in dire need of help, and the fact that all of these colleges are out here—especially our arch rivals St. Augustine—speaks volume," Cromwell said.

And there it was. The realization that when it came right down to it, in times of need our differences don't matter. School rivalries fade away, socioeconomic statuses cease to exist and the color of someone's skin is the last thing on anyone's mind.

The things normally keeping people apart are nothing in comparison with what brought everyone together Thursday: humanity.

There is so much work left to be done, not only around Shaw University, but around the entire state. But based on what I have seen from my time helping with the cleanup, North Carolina cares for its own—and will continue to do so until the work is done.