AccuWeather's Ali Reid shares the inspiring story of Dan Beazley, who travels to communities impacted by natural disasters to offer comfort, support, and peace to those in need.
00:00We continue to bring you the heartbreaking stories out of Kirk County, Texas, where floodwaters left a trail of devastation and loss.
00:08The community is still in shock and families are beginning the long road to recovery.
00:13Our Allie Reed is live in Ingram this morning, one of the hardest hit towns to continue sharing the voices of those impacted. Allie?
00:22Good morning, guys. I've told this morning, throughout the morning, some pretty heartbreaking, gut-wrenching stories.
00:35And I know, Bernie, Ari, we were talking. You just want to hold your family, your loved ones, a little bit closer after you hear those stories.
00:42Right? But with some of the darkness and some of the unfortunate stories that we've heard, I figured that we would end day one here on the ground with a positive one.
00:54This story is really, really incredible and one that I said I have to tell it to you guys here on the AccuWeather Network.
01:02Now, yesterday, when I was here, out of the corner of my eye, I see a large 10-foot cedar cross.
01:10And I said, hmm, wait a second. I've seen this before. I've seen this man before holding this cross.
01:17Take a look at this picture on your screen.
01:20I took this photo two months ago when I was in London, Kentucky, covering the EF4 devastating tornado.
01:30And, you know, it brought me a little bit of peace, a little bit of comfort.
01:34Didn't know who that man was. But I said, you know what? I'm going to take this picture.
01:38It was comforting to me.
01:40Well, fast forward. I see this man again. And I said, I need to talk to him.
01:45His name is Dan Beasley. He's from Michigan.
01:49And he travels the country, showing up in communities that have been hardest hit, often by severe weather.
01:54His mission, very simple, to bring comfort to those in pain.
01:58No agenda. No big production.
02:00Just presence and peace.
02:01He left such a lasting impression on me in Kentucky, I remember thinking, I could never forget this man.
02:08And when I saw him again here yesterday in Texas, I knew I just needed to talk to him.
02:13The story he told me next was truly remarkable.
02:16Yesterday morning, he visited Camp Mystic with the cross.
02:19The area, again, very highly impacted by this flood.
02:22When volunteers, community members went up to him asking if he'd be able to keep the cross there.
02:28Now, for those that aren't familiar, Camp Mystic is a Christian camp.
02:31So, for them to see a cross like this is huge, right?
02:35He said he couldn't leave his, but that he would do whatever he could possible to get a similar one.
02:39Again, this is a 10-foot cross we're talking about.
02:42They're as quickly as possible.
02:43Wouldn't you know, a local hardware store said, we will do it.
02:47We'll get it done within a few hours.
02:49And that just goes to show you how incredible this community really is.
02:53So, I stopped in and I talked to them.
02:56I said, look, we'd like to build a cross like this one, okay, to put right in front of Mystic.
03:03And I'm thinking, this guy's going to tell me, get lost.
03:07We're not doing this.
03:08I can't do it.
03:09I don't have the wood.
03:11The guy says, no problem.
03:13So, this is 10 o'clock.
03:15I meet the guy at noon at the hardware store, at the lumber yard.
03:19He picks all the wood up.
03:21The guy picks it up.
03:22So, by 4 o'clock in the afternoon today, the guy already had the cross built.
03:26In these situations, there's a lot of people in really tough spots.
03:30You know, they don't know where to turn to.
03:31They don't know who to go to.
03:33They're like, why did this have to happen to us?
03:35You know, why do bad things happen to good people?
03:39You know, we can't answer that.
03:41I can't answer those questions.
03:42I wish I had the answers for them.
03:43But I can do one thing.
03:45I can give them a little bit of hope.
03:48And I love that, right?
03:49You hear the hope, the positivity in his voice.
03:51So, again, you heard from Lorena.
03:53That is someone who we were bringing to you throughout the morning to share her story,
03:57what unfortunately happened here in this community.
04:00But with the devastation, again, the positive, the beacons of light,
04:05and certainly this story, just one of them.
04:08And when I knew that I wanted to tell this story to you guys, again,
04:12I think a lot of people in their head, they say, oh, well, you know,
04:16whether you're religious or not,
04:18and whether you look at a cross in that way or not,
04:21this is really just so, so incredible what he's been able to do here.
04:26Just talking to him in the 15 minutes or so that we were with him,
04:29we witnessed just so many people in this community come up to him,
04:33even some saying, we aren't religious,
04:35but you being here is just such an incredible mark on this community.
04:39And I think Bernie Ari, the most incredible one,
04:44the most incredible story out of this is that there was a first responder
04:48that came up to him yesterday, gave him a hug, and said,
04:52we have been pulling bodies from this river, the Guadalupe River, all morning.
04:57But because you have been here,
04:59you have given us hope to continue and push on
05:02and to make them feel like what they're doing means something
05:07and that they can get through this at the end of the day
05:11and go home to their families.
05:13And I think that was so incredible to hear.
05:15And one final note about this story is that,
05:19yes, the cross has been made.
05:21Thursday, we have been invited,
05:24AccuWeather has been invited to go to that ceremony
05:27to put that 10-foot cross, guys, in front of Camp Mystic,
05:31a place that we'll be going boots on the ground into later this morning.
05:37Allie, we appreciate you sharing that story in Ingram, Texas, this morning
05:41and all the stories you've been sharing us this morning.
05:43And I know we'll be checking back in with you here
