CENTRE — Within days of the April 27 tornado that ripped across Alabama, donations began pouring into the Cherokee County area.

A few days later, children's supplies, appliances and furniture were stacked to overflowing in small, makeshift shelters and storage facilities in Cherokee and surrounding counties.

“We started all this the Monday after the storm, after a meeting with the County Commission,” said volunteer and organizer Charlie Hincy, who has been in charge of the county's relief effort since it began. “We decided to use the old gym, and the First Baptist Church and some places in Piedmont that had already been collecting items were the first to deliver their items to us.”

Not long after Hincy and his group of local volunteers set up a county-run disaster relief center inside the gymnasium at the former Centre Middle School, the place was pretty much filled to the rafters.

“We got clothes, food, water, a truckload of diapers from New York, more food from Mobile, Cobb County, Ga., Indiana, Tennessee, North Carolina,” Hincy said. “School groups and churches have done a great job keeping us in business and it hasn't cost the taxpayers a penny, other than the electric bill.”

Hincy said Cherokee County Sheriff Jeff Shaver even donated workers who have comprised the majority of the labor force at the center.

“And that first week, we had about 35 to 45 volunteers every day,” Hincy said.

In the days and weeks after the storm, families filed through the center filling bags and truck beds with whatever they needed – from foodstuffs to refrigerators – in an effort to try and put their lives back together.

“What struck me the most was how humble the victims were, especially the ones who had suffered the most damage,” Hincy said. “They were reluctant, in some cases, to take anything.”

Sadly, Hincy said, a few derelicts tried to take advantage of the good will of so many others.

"That was unfortunate, but we had so many more who were good people,” he said. “It was a blessing. The donors were fabulous, too.”

The center finally closed to the public at the end of July. But Hincy and his volunteers still have a basketball court filled with supplies. By selling off the leftover items to the public next week, Hincy hopes the new county organization that has sprung from the rubble of the Tornado of 2011 will live on to help in the event of future natural disasters.

“Since we closed we've been working three days a week to get ready for the sale,” Hincy said. “Everything we're selling, the proceeds will go to fund our Longtime Recovery Committee, which was established strictly to handle disasters in our county.”

Hincy said officers have already been elected and he expects the proceeds from the sale to supply “seed money” for future relief efforts.

“We'll have separate committees for food, clothing, and other basic necessities,” Hincy said. “We want to be ready as quickly as possible. You never know when we could have another disaster.”

Hincy said the sale will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept. 1-3 (Thursday through Saturday).

“All the items are already priced, and we have a tremendous amount of clothes, furniture, appliances,” Hincy said. “We have TVs, microwaves, a lot of nice Christmas stuff.”

Hincy said prices will run as low as 50 cents for T-shirts and $1.50 for pants, with higher prices for electronic and larger items. Doors are open to all.

“We've got to empty the building because we don't have a permanent location, so that's why we're having the sale instead of keeping everything and using it next time,” Hincy said. “We thought this would be a good opportunity for everyone to get something they might need and donate to a good cause, which is for the county to have its own emergency relief organization to leap into action the next time something happens.”