At 12:10 AM on Friday morning, March 26, 2021, an EF4 Tornado came through the historic residential district of Newnan, Georgia. The tornado reached winds as high as 170 mph and the path covered seven miles, causing catastrophic damage.

The tornado damaged 1800 homes and left 6,500 of 10,000 Newnan Utilities customers without power. Currently, majority have power but some do not. Internet and cable providers with WOW (a local provider) are without services. There are over 300 homes that have been listed as uninhabitable. Atkinson Elementary and Newnan High School (picture #2) received severe damage. Atkinson will move to West Georgia Technical School to finish the year. Newnan High School will need to finish the year virtually, and the estimated time to return is undetermined. The city’s low to moderate income residential area received major damage. We currently have eight Rotarian families who have been impacted by the storm. 

We have received an outpouring of support to help remove trees from homes and help provide the necessities. We are assisting many local not for profits, volunteer efforts, and long term plans to help rebuild. The journey will take years to recover and the Rotary Club of Newnan will seek to provide assistance needed over the long term. We are asking for support from all our district friends to provide the following:

• Financial Contributions to the District 6900 Charitable Fund for the specific purposes of Newnan Tornado Relief. Our club will seek opportunities to help specific families in need, provide payments for hotels, assist with cleanup, assist with insurance deductibles, humanitarian aid- blankets, food, water, Gatorade, cleaning supplies, shelter needs,
• Laptops for students - Chrome Books
• Prom dresses
• Gift Cards- Target, Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, Kroger, Publix etc. Buying Clothes and Repair Supplies
• Air mattresses
• Blankets
• Flashlights and batteries
• Lanterns

Our focus is in four key areas: 1) Fundraising, 2)Humanitarian Aid, 3)Volunteerism, and 4) Service Projects.

Contact Newnan Club President Garnet Reynolds at Garnet.Reynolds@BBandT.com if you need more information or would like to help.

And if you wish to send monetary, make checks payable to District 6900 Charitable Fund (Remitter/Memo- Newnan Tornado Relief) and mail them to  mail to: Newnan Rotary Club,  PO Box 341 Newnan, Georgia 30264. Gift cards can also go to this address.