Volunteers travel hundreds of miles to work on tornado recovery clean-up

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – We’ve told you about some Columbus tornado victims that still have trouble clearing their property after the February 23 tornado.

A local organization started the effort to help, and now more volunteers are here to pitch in.

After a natural disaster, volunteers band together.

Sometimes some live right down the road, while others drive hundreds of miles to help.

United Church of Christ volunteers hopped in their vehicles and drove seven hours to help pile debris and move items in the heart of destroyed Columbus neighborhoods.

“Just imagining what that would be like if that was our community. We have been very blessed not immediately experiencing anything of this devastation,” said volunteer Julie Harris.

Donna Nettleton said she started volunteering 14 years ago when one of Mississippi’s worst natural disasters hit the Gulf Coast.

“After I saw the hurricane coverage of Katrina I was so moved. I felt like I just needed to do something to help people. I needed to get out of my house, get off my butt and go do something to actually help people,” said Nettleton.

The United Church of Christ volunteer group travels to devastated communities across the country.

Community Recovery of Lowndes County helped get the group to travel more than four hundred miles from the comfort of their homes in Belleville, Illinois, just outside St. Louis.

This week, they’ll help some Columbus residents recover from the February 23 tornado.

This group believes a little sweat equity is better than writing a check.

“It makes the people real, as opposed to just donating to a cause and donate financially it doesn’t make it as real for you,” said Nettleton.

Each year the volunteers stay prepared to help where they can.

“As long as we are physically able we will continue,” said Harris.

The United Church of Christ volunteer group has assisted with 10 clean-up recovery projects in the U.S. since Hurricane Katrina.

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