Lake tornado victims recall singer Mindy McCready's empathy

Country singer Mindy McCready delivered 15 sets of car keys to tornado victims on behalf of 1-800-Charity Cars during a presentation at the First Baptist Church of Paisley in 2007. (Tom Benitez, Orlando Sentinel / February 15, 2007)

By Michael Scott Davidson, Orlando Sentinel

February 20, 2013

Mindy McCready may have been recognized nationally as a country music singer after her 1996 debut single "Ten Thousand Angels," but to many Lake residents she will be remembered for the empathy she showed in the aftermath of killer tornadoes in February 2007.

McCready ? who died Sunday of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at her Arkansas home ? handed over the keys of 15 free automobiles to east Lake victims after a tornado outbreak that killed 21 people and destroyed several homes and automobiles. McCready appeared on behalf of the nonprofit 1-800-Charity Cars, which provided the cars.

Robert Lee Hicks, 56, said McCready helped put a roof back over his head after his home was blown away.

"I was literally staying in a tent on the property. Charity Cars actually donated a motor home to me, so I was out of the weather," Hicks recalled this week. "I couldn't believe somebody of her stature would come down and help somebody like me. At the time I literally had nothing."

McCready cried as she gave away the cars, saying, "Nothing could replace what you lost. Nothing could ever be good enough. But we hope that this is a start."

Said Doris Thomas, 54, of Lake Mack: "It was like she was an angel sent from God the way she helped us."

mdavidson@tribune.com or 352-742-5930

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/orlandosentinel/news/local/lake/~3/tCugQZUD2fw/story01.htm

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