Retired Carpenter Builds Crosses As A Tribute To Alabama Tornado Victims

Mar 28, 2019 by apost team

Greg Zanis, a retired carpenter, didn't know any of the people who died in the tornado that hit Lee County, Alabama, but after only 36 hours from the time he received news of the tragedy, he had completed 23 monuments adorned with the victims' names. He was at his wife's birthday party when he received the call, and decided to leave the celebration to begin the project.

Zanis told WVTM that he considers his community to be part of his family, so he felt that the gesture was appropriate.

"I want the community to know that first off, they're a family," he told local news station WVTM. "Lee County is a family."

This is actually not the first time that Zanis has done this. In fact, Zanis established a nonprofit organization called Crosses for Losses that he has operated for about 23 years. He has built and distributed more than 26 thousand of these monuments for people who have lost their lives to many different types of tragedies.

apost.com

The local WVTM asked Zanis what motivates him to spend so many hours building the crosses and driving to various towns to display them.

Zanis explained that he believes Jesus would do that exact thing if he were alive. He jokingly added that he had a truck rather than a biblical donkey for transportation.

Zanis' first cross was built to memorialize the memory of his wife's father who was killed in 1996. He was the man who taught Zanis the craft of carpentry. Zanis retired in 2014 from the profession, but now his full-time occupation is building the monuments.

Some other noteworthy tragedies that Zanis memorialized include the Sandy Hook school shooting, the bombing of the Boston Marathon, the Pulse nightclub attack, the shooting at Columbine High School and many others.

The first major tragedy covered in the media that Zanis memorialized was the Columbine shooting. Zanis also memorialized the victims of the recent shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue by building stars of David.

Zanis says that every time he builds a cross, he honors it with a moment of reflection about the individual victims and their families. He feels that the heartfelt actions of one man could possibly help heal the nation when tragedies strike.

Do you believe Christ would build crosses if he were alive today as Greg Zanis believes? Tell us in the comments. If you were moved by this story, let people know on social media.