Diaz, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – March 21, 2025 – Representatives from the Jonesboro Media Group joined staff from KAIT-TV in Jackson County Friday to serve storm victims and volunteers following an EF-4 tornado that hit the Jacksonport, Diaz and Campbell Station areas last weekend.
Jonesboro Media Group took its BFG grill loaded with hot dogs, chips and Pepsi products. JMG and KAIT representatives packed hot dogs, chips and sodas and distributed the meals to volunteers, linemen, first responders and others who stopped by the Diaz City Hall. Other meals were taken out into the damaged areas and handed out to those who wanted them.
The City Hall has served as the command center for the affected areas. The building was full of food and supplies that have been sent to help the storm victims. “It’s amazing,” said Jackson County Emergency Manager Donny Ivy. “We’ve had outpouring from as far away as Nebraska, Utah. I don’t know where all this stuff came from.”
Ivy said he was tracking the storm as it approached Jackson County Friday night. “I was watching it, trying to plot where it was going to hit,” Ivy said. “Me and my local meteorologist pretty well had it pinned out of where it was going.”
One of the scary sites the media groups saw was a heavily damaged Diaz Police Car. 70-year-old Diaz Police Sgt. Richard Morris was injured when the police vehicle got caught up in the tornado. “The tornado took him up in the air and spun him around and threw him against a house upside down,” Ivy said. “He hung in his seat belt over an hour before we were able to get to him.” The damaged police car was piled up with other vehicles that had been damaged in the storm.
Christie Matthews, Jonesboro Media Group Station Manager and Sales Manager, visited with a group of college students from Lincoln, Nebraska. The students are part of International Rescue and Relief, a unique Bachelor of Science degree program designed for students who want to serve through disaster and humanitarian relief efforts. “The students arrived on Tuesday and were scheduled to head back Saturday,” Matthews said. “The student efforts are funded by donors who make trips like the one to Arkansas possible.”
The meal effort in Jackson County was the second food effort the media group did this week. JMG joined members of the Pruett’s Chapel Church in Paragould handing out meals to storm victims and volunteers and other workers on Thursday. Some of the cost of the food was underwritten by Roof Raiders and Fence Builders who both expressed their willingness to help those that had been affected by the storms.