DALLAS (1080 KRLD) - A group of volunteers with Texas Baptist Men left Dallas Friday morning to spend a week in areas hit by tornadoes in Tennessee.
The National Weather Service says a total of eight tornadoes hit Tennessee and Kentucky during the outbreak Monday night and Tuesday morning.
About a dozen volunteers left Texas Baptist Men's headquarters in Dallas Friday morning. They are bringing a mobile kitchen, refrigerator and generator to Tennessee and will be able to serve 1,500 meals a day.
"This volunteer spirit that these guys and girls have, that's who they are. They feel called to do this," says Dwain Carter, Texas Baptist Men's director of disaster relief. "We can sit around and listen and hear their stories and try to give comfort and support. We just feel really blessed to be a part of this."
Carter says the volunteers who left Friday morning will spend a week in Tennessee. If they are still needed after that, another team will replace them.
"It just gives us a great feeling," he says. "In the Bible, it tells us we need to help our neighbors, and we believe our neighbors are anyone who is in need."
The National Weather Service says one of the tornadoes that hit Tennessee stayed on the ground for 60 miles. The entire outbreak killed 25 people, and three people were still missing Thursday morning.
Carter says Texas Baptist Men responded to 21 disasters last year, including 16 in Texas