Tornado Cleanup This Weekend

Between 200 and 300 volunteers are needed to pitch in this weekend on the Highway 70 corridor.

Putnam County Volunteer Organization Assistant Director Randy Adams said after clean up crews in late May took the last of the larger debris, a lot of small debris was left.

“[Let’s] just rake up and pick up and let’s get it bagged so we can get it carried off and get that area cleaned up,” Adams said. “Every little bit…that we pick up, every little piece of trash that we pick up, just brightens the place up and gives the folks out there more hope for the recovery that we’re having.”

Adams said rakes, garbage bags, gloves, and masks can be provided for any volunteer. He said volunteers can drive to the fair grounds beginning 8 a.m. Saturday and Sunday morning. The last teams to be sent out will be around 2 p.m. both days.

“I know that lots of other things have been going on with COVID and our current political situation-we haven’t stopped,” Adams said. “This has been an ongoing effort, and it’s just come back to a time when we need our volunteers from our community to come out again and give us a little time, give our survivors a little time, and help make it brighter.”

Since March, over 57,000 volunteer hours from 77,000 volunteers from 19 states have assisted in cleanup efforts. Adams said while the outside help has been overwhelming, core volunteers have always been within and surrounding counties.

“We have absolutely set the standard in the nation for volunteer response and disaster response,” Adams said. “We have lots of outside communities looking at us and wondering ‘how in the world have they done it?’ and how in the world we’ve done it is just the great people that we have and the volunteer spirit that we have.”