Steve Powell takes a moment to look back on the events of the past week, and remind us what Arkansas is all about:

We don't know what the people who lived here were thinking about Tuesday morning.  We do know it wasn't this. They may have listened to the weather broadcasts, may have taken their tornado precautions. But in the brief frantic moments between siren and storm, there is no way to prepare for this.   

It's likely everyone who made it through that awful night in that path of destruction will tell you how they are lucky to be alive. Maybe so, but this is hardly good fortune. It's a harsh reality when a life's work becomes a salvage job overnight. 

As always, the damage will be measured and quantified, but suffering doesn't have a number. 

No, we don't know what these people were thinking about before the super cells of Super Tuesday. We do know what they are thinking about now. How do I pick up the pieces when the pieces are scattered to the winds?  How do I get back to the life I knew barely a week ago?  

Fortunately, as you know, this has never been an "every man for himself" kind of place. Around here we look out for our own. We understand that it's nice to offer up our prayers, but it's better to answer someone else's.    

This is suffering that hurts us all. But the truth is that eventually the weight--the momentum--of our own lives will force even the best of us to move on well before anyone here can move in. Maybe that's happening to you already. We forget all too quickly how that could have been us. Forget how one day it might be us. How would we find our way back to "just another day?” 

That's why we must make the most of the here and now. To ensure in this moment that our goodwill has the staying power that these Arkansans need and deserve.

There are many ways to help. One is called the Neighbor in Need Fund.

Whenever and wherever Arkansans are imperiled, the Red Cross is the first to arrive and the last to leave. Now your donations won't alter the recent past for these folks, but it could radically change their immediate future.

So tonight, before you go to sleep in your own bed, we hope we know what you're thinking. That now's the time to help your neighbors. Before it's too late for them and perhaps before it happens to you.  

In less than a week the Neighbor in Need Fund has raised more than $27,000.  All of the money raised will go to help tornado victims here in Arkansas.