Dubbed the “The City of Opportunity” at its founding, Seneca SC still claims its title, maybe even more so now than when the city originally chartered in 1874 as “Seneca City’. The city was originally named for a 1700’s Indian village, Esseneca, located on the banks of the nearby Seneca River. Now many, many new opportunities exist to rebuild this community located in the ‘Upcountry’ region of South Carolina. 21 tornadoes swept across the state on Easter Sunday and into the early morning hours of Monday wrecking everything in their paths. Nine people lost their lives in SC and over 1,000 homes have severe damage. The tornado was on the ground for 14 minutes, traveled almost 17 miles, and experts say Its final rating was a high-end EF3. 

When the deadly tornado touched down it immediately wrecked the local Borg-Warner automotive parts plant. It is truly amazing that only one person was killed at the plant, a contract security guard. The workers there produce 4-WD transfer cases for Chrysler/RAM, Ford, and Toyota. Those automakers depend on the plant for the major drive-train component for the Ram 1500, Toyota Tundra and Ford F-150, SuperDuty trucks, Expedition, Explorer, Transit van, Lincoln Navigator and Lincoln Aviator. Having the plant out of commission will obviously create a major global ripple effect for these manufacturers unless they can get it back on line quickly, which is unlikely.

Once the rescue workers cleared the area, MNA Disaster Response deployed Sheds of Hope at the request of Crossgate PCA. Calvary Presbytery sent volunteers from as far away as Newberry SC, and Highlands Presbytery volunteers came from Elizabethton TN. Crossgate identified four families that needed storage capacity for their recovered personal belonging during their anticipated arduous rebuilding process, and they received Sheds of Hope on Saturday.

Please keep praying for Seneca and Crossgate PCA, they have a long road ahead, but they are fully committed to restoration. To know more about Crossgate please navigate to https://www.crossgatepca.org. Crossgate will be working with Sheds of Hope in the future, once they are back on their feet, to establish their own Sheds of Hope building team. On the Crossgate PCA home page is a link to donate to the fund that has been established to fund the repairs to both of their pastor’s homes damaged by the tornado.