Source: Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese
The staff at Antiochian Village writes:
You may have heard that a tornado hit the Antiochian Village Camp and St Thekla Monastery on Friday, June 1st at approximately 5:20 PM. Thanks to our gracious and loving God, the members of our staff were in St Ignatius Church at the time praying the Paraklesis to the Mother of God when the tornado struck. No one was hurt. However there is extensive damage at the camp. We have hundreds of trees down and eighteen of our buildings were impacted by the tornado and tree debris. We have already started the clean up process. We have much work to do to get the camp back in shape. Please keep us in your prayers. We will provide updates as we have more information.
The staff update from June 3 reads:
Thank you for your love and support as we bounce back from the tornado. We have received many offers of help in the clean-up process. Under the advice of our insurance company, at the present time we are NOT accepting volunteer help. We are using professional services as much of the initial work can be quite hazardous. If we get to a point where we can use volunteer help, we will put a call for your assistance. Thank you again for your outpouring of love. We are so thankful to God for our safety and all of the wonderful people who are ready to pitch in.
The staff update from June 10 reads:
The clean up process is progressing well. With the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP, and the full support of the Archdiocese Board of Trustees we have called in additional tree service companies to make certain that we can open camp on time. So, when you come to camp some things will look a little different. There will be many trees missing. A few buildings will be removed. We will have some temporary housing (approximately 8 cabins worth) behind the lodge near the tennis court. In the meantime, our staff is in the midst of training and extremely excited to welcome their campers in one week.