Auburn employees and athletes saw the destruction left by the April 27 tornadoes firsthand.
Just two days after tornadoes tore through Alabama, affiliates of Auburn athletics, including football head coach Gene Chizik, loaded buses to Pleasant Grove and Cullman to help affected areas.
Kerry Cremeans, associate head coach of women's basketball, was on the bus to Pleasant Grove.
"It's emotional to watch it and to firsthand see it," Cremeans said. "You want to fight for these people and do everything you can to help them."
In Pleasant Grove, volunteers unloaded supplies and cleaned up around a church that was set up as a shelter.
"What was good about it was we were able to make a difference and make the grounds look nice because so many people were coming there for a home and a shelter," Cremeans said.
Cremeans said it was great to give the victims of destruction some form of a safe haven.
"When the email came, it was a no-brainer that I wanted to be a part of that and help anyway that I could," Cremeans said.
When Jeffrey Whitaker, sophomore defensive tackle for Auburn, received a text message asking him to volunteer for the project, he said he decided to go right away.
"Football puts you on such a pedestal, you have to do stuff like this," he said. "You just simply got to."
Cremeans compared what she saw to a bomb scene on a Hollywood stage.
"The best way I could describe it was like a third-world country," Whitaker said.
Cremeans said she hopes to go back to help tornado victims, possibly in Tuscaloosa, when she has a chance.
Volunteers were not allowed in Tuscaloosa when Cremeans volunteered because of the destruction and missing people.
You don't have to witness the devastation to make a contribution to the relief effort.
Many locations around Auburn are accepting donations for tornado relief.
"There is so much help and so much giving happening right now, but these people are going to need it for months to come and years to come," Cremeans said.
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