City of North Little Rock relocates tornado relief headquarters into community center

North Little Rock, Arkansas – On Thursday, the city of North Little Rock moved its tornado relief operations from its former location off of 1300 Pike Avenue into the North Little Rock Community Center at 2700 Willow Street. The American Red Cross, Small Business Association, and many other resources are now located at the community center, according to the city’s announcement of the shift of venue.

North Little Rock resident Leigh Hannah claimed that she had success there. She claimed that although the latest tornado didn’t completely demolish her house, the lack of power contaminated the food she had left for her five- and fourteen-year-old grandchildren.

“We just played like we were camping, we had candles and were bundled up with our blankets,” Hannah said.

The Salvation Army’s Major Bill Mockabee claimed they were unaware that the city of North Little Rock was opening a new resource center. He claimed that due to the closure of the Pike Avenue facility, residents of that community will not be able to obtain warm meals.

“Not having the Pike Street open means that we do not have a fixed location in North Little Rock to provide those hot meals,” Mockabee said. “I’m not sure if the city of North Little Rock has some other agreement but right now we’ve not been asked to provide meals at the FEMA site in North Little Rock.”

Since the tornado struck two weeks ago, more than 23,000 meals have been served, according to Mockabee. One of those units, he claimed, was in North Little Rock, and they had initially had six canteen mobile units. He claimed that they had noticed a significant decrease in the amount of food they were serving each day.

They will be relocating from the City Center Church facility in Little Rock to the West Community Center off Colonel Glenn Road, Mockabee said on Friday.

Hannah claimed that despite the closing of the North Little Rock plant, everyone was happy now that she had been given FEMA essential help.

“I don’t have that to worry about now, because I have a long list of things that I worry about all the time you know stress about so I can check that off,” she said.

Mockabee stated that the West Community Center in Little Rock will be the nearest site for anyone in North Little Rock searching for a warm supper from their canteen mobile unit. He added that they still offer regular services like breakfast and the food pantry to the neighborhood.

The North Little Rock Community Center is open from seven in the morning until seven in the evening, according to the city of North Little Rock.