FRANKLIN

Franklin Baptist Church partnered with Celebration Church on Wednesday to provide lunches from noon to 1:30 p.m. for power crews who had been working to restore the city’s electricity following Tuesday’s downspout.

According to Charles Qualls, pastor of Franklin Baptist, the two churches fed about 60 crew members at FBC and another 20, including some support personnel from the city’s police department, at the city’s emergency operations center on. FBC, he said, ended up buying 35 pizzas from Domino’s Pizza.

“Domino’s was a terrific partner, churning out the pizzas with nearly no notice,” Qualls said. “We found out at 10:30 a.m. about the need to have a place for the electrical workers to take a break and have meals. By noon, we had a volunteer crew of about 10 church members and the first pizzas were arriving from Domino’s.”

Celebration Church, he said, had time to put together a home-cooked meal of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and “other favorite comfort food items.” He added that the Food Lion in Franklin had donated a large cake thanking the workers.

“The tired crowd literally applauded the effort from the churches as we said a blessing over their meal,” Qualls said.

This crowd, the FBC pastor added, included Franklin Power & Light Workers, local first responders and electrical workers who had come in from all over the region.

“I talked with one employee last night [Wednesday] who had worked 11 hours already,” Qualls said.

Franklin Baptist itself was not spared the effects of the storm, having lost power until well into Tuesday night.

“We had water damage in a couple of places within our building, as well as some water erosion outside,” he said. “Several tree limbs were down outside in the church yard and parking lot. But most of that was cosmetic. Power had been restored overnight, so we were able to operate as normal [on Wednesday]. Our employees and volunteers worked quickly to get us cleaned up and ready for meals to be served.”