Moore tornado survivors use song to help prepare for emergencies

MOORE — Children who survived the May 2013 tornado huddled inside the Agapeland Learning Center are joining in national efforts to prepare for future emergencies with a new song and dance.

The tornado tore the roof off the building. A national group called Save the Children helped Agapeland rebuild and install a storm shelter.

The learning center, which serves families from Briarwood and Plaza Towers elementary schools, which were hit by the tornado, was in the middle of the path of destruction.

Arriving immediately after the tornado, Agapeland Director Memory Taylor said she was amazed that every person in the center was accounted for, and barely a scratch was found.

“I looked up and I saw that 7-Eleven was completely gone and I thought ‘If it took that, there’s no way — how could this place even be standing?’ And it was,” she told in 2013.

Taylor recently rehearsed with the children a song that is part of a Save the Children awareness campaign. She said practicing drills for emergencies such as tornadoes and talking about such situations makes things easier to deal with and seem less frightening.

She said Tessa Gallagher, 8, Kaylie Bowers, 9, and Aria Baird, 7, survived the tornado in 2013 and are still at Agapeland, a school for children 6 weeks old to age 12.

Taylor estimates that 36

Children at the Agapeland Learning Center in Moore dance to Save the Children’s “Prep Step” song, which some of them recorded with Save the Children to teach other kids about emergency preparedness.

In 2013, Aria Baird survived the tornado that destroyed the Agapeland Learning Center. Today, Aria, 7, is a featured singer on Save the Children’s “Prep Step.”