BY K. MCSTAY

HERALD DEMOCRAT

After Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast, Alvin Brown was concerned about a friend - and for good reason. The friend decided to ride out the storm, and having grown up in the middle of tornado alley, Brown said he was used to severe weather leaving as quickly as it had come. So when after two days of no contact, and riding what Brown called an emotional roller coaster, the friend finally checked in, and Brown realized what he'd been called to do. And thus, "We Are ... Safe and Sound" was born.

Born in Denison and raised in Sherman, Brown owns several different companies, including a real estate lending company and an Internet marketing firm. The latter revolves around teaching businesses the benefits of social networking sites, and providing skills needed to build the "We Are..." site, which he describes as his calling. "I think of this as my way to give back," he said.

The site allows individuals to register, and later, if a disaster strikes, family and friends can search the site for registered individuals. Using a computer, or, if the power is down, a cell phone, registered users can update their status as safe and sound, and give a number where they can be reached.

"We're asked, why not use Facebook or Twitter," Brown said. But frequently, he said, parents and grandparents, as well as other relatives, don't have accounts with various social media, and aren't familiar enough with the systems employed to search for the information. "This is the last line of defense," he said. "It's more focused." With his Web site, he said, a simple set of instructions for telephone use can be given out -- as opposed to more complicated, wholly Internet based sites.

"It's more proactive," Brown said, as opposed to other types of notification services. "The Red Cross, FEMA, they tend to be more reactive," he said. "It's human nature. People don't think it can happen to them." The service, he said, needs to be signed up with ahead of time. "I'd rather have the service and not need it than need it and not have it."

In the upcoming months, Brown said the site will be testing "select accounts," used for churches during ministry work. His church home in Austin, Christ Community Church, will be testing the service this summer, and hopefully will grow the service in time for hurricane season.

Brown said growing up in the small-town atmosphere of Sherman affected his view of the disasters. "Sherman is a tight-knit community," he said. "In Austin, you get the same hometown feel, but there are just a lot more people." The most significant severe weather in the Texoma area, he said, are the tornadoes that whirl by occasionally; the hurricanes that hit on the coast were new to him. "A hurricane is a monstrous beast," he said. Many hurricane evacuees, he said, left their homes with nothing more than the clothes on their backs, without food or anyone knowing where they are. When Katrina hit, Brown said, the idea for the site came to him. "God was calling me to do this," he said, but he felt like he didn't have the expertise. "I'm not the man for the job."

After Ike, however, he said he put himself into the idea, but not before being entirely sure of himself. "I fasted for seven days," Brown said. During those seven days, he said he came to an epiphany. "I had an end in sight," he said. "These people (evacuees) don't have an end in sight." After that, he said, he understood why he had been called to make the site.

"People say that's the government's job, and that's yes and no," he said, "but if we see something wrong in the world, people need to band together and fix it."