GORHAM – A small country church in West Gorham is believed to be the first Maine church to head up a drive to aid victims of the deadly tornado that devastated the Oklahoma City area on Monday.

The Rev. Matt McDonald, pastor of West Gorham Union Church, announced a fund drive Tuesday in collaboration with an Oklahoma church. Wednesday morning, he received the first donation – a $50 check from an individual.

“In light of the tragic event in the Oklahoma City area, the West Gorham Union Church in partnership with First Baptist Church of Moore, Okla., are going to be raising funds to help support the victims of the tornadoes,” McDonald said.

The record-setting tornado claimed 24 lives, according to the latest reports on Wednesday by the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, with damage estimates expected to reach billions. The website for the city of Moore reported it received a direct hit at 3:17 p.m. on May 20.

After learning of the massive destruction, McDonald searched online to locate a church in Moore. Then, he contacted church officials there.

McDonald said the Oklahoma church, which was close to the epicenter, is sheltering 100 victims.”

“A majority of the victims have just the clothes on their back,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the church in Oklahoma, who declined to be identified, said on Wednesday that the church, which is about 10 miles south of Oklahoma City, was two miles from the tornado’s path but, miraculously, was not damaged.

She described the scene as “dismal all over town. It cut quite a path.”

The relief effort launched in Gorham is gaining momentum around in the state. Other churches in Maine are calling McDonald and by Wednesday morning he’d heard from churches in South Paris, Warren and East Baldwin. A Florida member of McDonald’s church has called, as has someone from New York.

“We are the only church in the region and possibly the state spearheading the effort,” McDonald said. “We are it – in little West Gorham.”

McDonald said the West Gorham Union Church has 35 members, compared to the First Baptist Church in Moore with 5,000.

He said he graduated from college in Tulsa, Okla., in 2002 and knows what it is like to live in tornado alley.

“It tugged on my heart,” McDonald said.