DANVILLE — Imagine walking from the Village Mall to Big R in Tilton, and noticing that everything — everything — along that 6-mile stretch is destroyed.

That’s what it was like for Alabama residents and others at the end of April when tornados swept across the South, killing dozens and flattening homes.

The hardest hit major city was Tuscaloosa, where Kathy Oths lives. She is the sister of Jennifer Martindill of Danville.

Forty-one people were killed, 25 are missing, and thousands of businesses and homes were flattened.

“It took the heart out of our city,” Oths said in a telephone interview. “It’s like a nuclear bomb dropped. We’re still reeling.”

Martindill was so moved by her sister’s account of the damage that she said to herself: “I’ve got to do something.”

Martindill appealed to the students at St. Paul’s School, where she is religious education coordinator, and also contacted Holy Family School and Schlarman High School.

On Friday, St. Paul’s had a jeans day, where the students — who normally wear uniforms — were allowed to wear jeans for a donation.

By the end of the day, they had raised $290.61, which will be sent to the American Red Cross specifically for the Alabama victims.

Oths was amazed when she heard about the donation, saying, “They have such a big heart. I’m really touched by that.”

Martindill hopes others will follow the students’ example.

“If we can spread the word and get others on board …” she said. “I have a lot of faith in people — they’re generous. It’s awesome we have that kind of people (in Danville).”

Martindill stressed she is not collecting donations; instead, people should send money directly to the Red Cross and specify it’s for the Alabama victims.

“I’m trying to get people aware of the need. It’s important to remember this cause isn’t going away,” she said.

Oths agreed, noting the cleanup and rebuilding probably will take 10 years.

She and the staff at the anthropology department at the University of Alabama, where she is an anthropology professor, have been helping with the cleanup and recovery of people’s property.

She said there would have been many more deaths if it hadn’t been for the early warning system. She was at the university when the tornado hit, and took shelter in the basement. The university escaped damage, for the most part, and her home survived.

Eight students were killed and others are homeless.

Tuscaloosa is a city of 100,000 people, including students. The tornado cut diagonally from the southwest to the northeast corner.

“Imagine taking a look left and right and seeing nothing but garbage,” she said. “It just mowed down everything and cut the city in two.”

That tornado was just one in a long line that tore across the state, with 38 out of 67 counties declared disaster areas.

Alabama is a poor state to begin with, Oths said, and now this is the third calamity — after Katrina and the Gulf oil spill — to hit in recent years. It might be the worst tornado disaster in the nation’s history.

“It’s utterly beyond our capacity to grasp. We’re still stunned,” she said.

Still, she and others are out helping the victims regroup. “I love this town,” said Oths, who’s lived there 21 years. She and Martindill are originally from Ohio.

“We’ve got to support each other,” she said.

To help

She recommended making contributions to:

--University of Alabama Acts of Kindness Fund at https://www.ua.edu/advancement/giving/donate/?division2&account349

--United Way of West Alabama at http://www.uwwa.org/donatenow.html

--American Red Cross at http://alredcross.org/index.asp?IDCapituloDRGYJ0Q5XZ

Also, one of her faculty members put together this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?vQSIBQfLoeaI

To help

People may donate by visiting http://www.redcross.org, calling (800) RED CROSS or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.Any donation, large or small, will help.

Contributions also can be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Indicate the money is for the victims of the storms in Alabama.