As the first images of the tornado damage in Ellis County, Garland, Rowlett and Collin County showed up on TV last weekend, it hit especially close to home for Dee and Jim Brown.
"It's just tragic," said Dee Brown.
Though the Browns live in Northwest Denton County, far from the affected communities, they know some of the pain the survivors are dealing with as they themselves went through it earlier this year.
On May 7, a tornado touched down at their ranch, the Jim-a-Dee Ranch, just west of Sanger and Bolivar.
The storm tore the roofs off several of their buildings, destroyed the carriage house, took down trees and even tore pieces of their house off while they hunkered down inside.
"The rest of the roof panels left, I watched them blow away, and then a tree fell in the pool and we said, 'Oh, holy cow,'" said Dee Brown.
Luckily for the Browns, neither they nor the numerous animals they care for at the ranch were injured in the storm.
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The tornado itself was much smaller and less damaging than the latest ones in North Texas, but it left the Browns with a lot of work to do if they ever wanted to reopen their ranch to the public.
However, they got a lot of help from neighbors in the area and throughout the Metroplex, and now they're finally ready to reopen to the public, ironically, as the latest tragic storms leave others with damage elsewhere.
So the Browns said they knew instantly that they had to do something to help the latest survivors make it through this and recover – the same way their neighbors rallied to their side in May. Now, they hope to do their part by making sure the animals and pets from the storms have what they need to survive.
The Browns are working with the North Texas Pet Food Pantry to gather donations for the storm damaged communities.
According to pantry leaders, they've exhausted most of their supplies already as they try to help those areas and are in bad need of donors right now.
So at Jim-a-Dee's New Year's Day reopening event – the Beautiful Belgian Buck's Bountiful Bash – they're asking people to bring pet foods, care products, collars, leashes, food bowls, blankets and other supplies to donate to the charity and help those tornado victims.
"Our first public event since the tornado," said Dee Brown.
The event runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on New Year's Day at Jim-a-Dee Ranch, located at 9494 Waide Road in Sanger.
The North Texas Pet Food Pantry is also asking anyone in the area who would like to help to donate at any of its drop-off locations throughout the Metroplex. Some drop-offs include the Three Dog Bakery locations in Plano, Southlake and Fort Worth, the Cat Connection in Addison and Pet Paradise boarding facilities.
You can find more information and locations on the charity's Facebook page.
