In many ways the “I’m with Phil” story is about much more than a single incident involving a town and a group of people who share the same name. There is a universality to the idea of the town in the immediate aftermath of the tornado, of strangers helping others in the moments that follow. In times of need, people help people, it's as simple as that.
We are grateful to Jason Biggs of American Pie fame for his continued support of “I’m with Phil.” At the time of the tornado Jason was in the middle of filming for Hollywood director Stephen Gyllenhaal an independent film called Grassroots, a movie about our very own “Brooklyn” Phil Campbell.
“It looks like a bomb went off!” the local news reporter exclaimed.
My family and I had spent the entire day hunkered down in my aunt’s basement in Russellville, Alabama. Even though my family's home was 12 miles away in the town of Phil Campbell, we always tried to take shelter from extremely severe weather outbreaks in my aunt's basement as it offered the best protection from a tornado. Before the power went off we knew that our whole county was under a tornado warning, but it wasn’t until the electricity was restored that we were able to turn on the news, and hear those dreadful words spoken by the reporter.
Facebook thinks I was born and raised in northwest Alabama.
It’s a funny mistake, based, I assume, on the statistics the company applies to most people. The friends of the average person probably hail from the same area where that person lives, with perhaps some groups of friends still living cities and towns where the person used to live and perhaps some old school chums from back in the day. Throw in a few scattered professional contacts around the country or world, and that’s most people’s contacts on social media.
KeepVolunteering is a Grassroots effort non-profit corporation, that has a 501c3 Status. We operate exclusively for disaster relief purposes. Specifically, we meet the needs of those affected by disasters located within a 500-mile radius of the City of Huntsville and Madison County, Alabama.
Our goal is simple and ambitious: provide help in anyway possible to those affected by disasters. KeepVolunteering partners with local organizations in each location to build and rehabilitate our communities hit by disasters. 100% of donations are earmarked by each donor funding relief efforts to those affected by disasters. We partner with individuals, organizations and churches to build the projects, investing in their resources, expertise and acquired knowledge.
KeepVolunteering is for the community, made up by the community.
We are currently in search of companies and/or individuals to sponsor the documentary so that we can take the film to a wider audience. We hope to use the film to raise money to support continued tornado relief efforts in the town of Phil Campbell. Please email us at imwithphil@gmail.com if you are interested in sponsoring our documentary. That way you can say that I'm with Phil...