ALBANY – It’s been two weeks since the day a deadly tornado ripped through Albany.
Local volunteers are still pitching in to clean and make the community closer than it’s ever been before.
“It’s like a jungle you have to cut yourself through,” says one volunteer.
On Sunday, the road to one trailer park on Sylvester Highway was completely blocked with fallen trees and debris.
“This has been really emotional for me because I thought I was just going to be out here with two or three people,” says Steve Owens, a local volunteer. “Now, all the sudden we have around 25 out here clearing.”
His Facebook post on an Albany storm recovery help page brought a big group together on Sunday morning to clean the debris.
It’s youngest volunteer was 9-year-old James Cornavaca and his family.
“We can help because a lot of trees fell down and they can’t do it by themselves,” says Cornavaca. “We can just be nice and help.”
The cleaning came as a huge relief to many of those residents, like John Wilder. The trailer he called home for the past 36 years is now totaled.
“Seeing all the people come out here and help him has opened back up his heart,” says Eric Soto, a family friend. “He was shut down for the first three days because eveything he had was in there.”
The act has shown kindness as a domino effect between victims and volunteers.
“Just destruction like this, it’s just trees, but what we have been able to gain from this is one huge family.”
Now, paving the way for recovery and lifelong friendship.
Along with cleanup efforts, volunteers are also urging storm victims to register for FEMA assistance.
