Tulsa's Dream Center Helps North Tulsans Move Forward From Tornado

There's a lot damage left in north Tulsa nearly a month after a tornado touched down.

A block party on Saturday gave the community a much-needed break.

All around the neighborhood, there are blue tarps on roofs, boarded-up windows and broken tree limbs.

But block party organizers said the community's spirit isn't broken.

A game of basketball against Tulsa police officers and a good burger... those happy moments took people away from the devastation all around them.

"If you ever go through a traumatic situation, sometimes you have to just pull away and begin to reflect on things that really matter -- like family and friends," organizer Tracy Gibbs said.

A block party at the Tulsa Dream Center brought everyone together by handing out fun, food and collecting clothing.

Dream Center pastor Timothy Newton says it's simple but important to the community.

“The building is just a dream building, but the dream center is the people,” Newton said. “I say it all the time - the church of Tulsa the people of Tulsa. We're the ones who makes this work."

A lot of debris has been cleared out since last the tornado.

But there's so much more to do.

"I hope we don't ever get that attitude ‘out of sight out of mind,’ because everyone still needs everyone to continue on this work until every single home has been taken care of,” Gibbs said.

The question “how” comes up a lot for these survivors.

“How will we pay for this?”

“How will we get through this?”

The answer: together.

"This should be a lifestyle of service, lifestyle of impacting our community, lifestyle of making a difference with our neighbor,” Newton said. “That's what I really love about the people who came out to help we want to keep this going."

The Dream Center still is accepting donations.

Center representatives will be out next week distributing the donations.