Volunteers are swarming Greenfield to help the rural Iowa town recover from a devastating EF4 tornado.
Volunteer Iowa, alongside AmeriCorps, has been organizing clean-up operations, receiving support from several bordering states.
“There’s shingles and debris and fences down. We have trees in ditches, and they really just need help getting everything back,” Jamie Lane, a volunteer coordinator with Volunteer Iowa said. “The town itself needs help. We’re trying to get debris picked up and moved where the big equipment can come.”
The tornado swept through Greenfield on Tuesday, May 21, destroying more than 150 homes. More than 300 volunteers flocked to the decimated town in the ensuing days, Lane said. That number has slowly decreased in the week since, though volunteers have held steady at 35 to 40 a day, helping the recovery stay on track.
“Believe it or not, we have gotten two-thirds done,” Lane said. “We are starting to get things checked off, but we’ve got a long way to go.”
The Salvation Army served 750 meals to residents and volunteers on Friday, May 31, and Saturday, June 1, with plans to distribute 250 more on Sunday.
“It can range anywhere from 20 to 100 meals per day,” Dan Hull with the Salvation Army said. “I know last weekend had a large number.”
More: Funeral services start soon for Greenfield tornado victims
Volunteers continue to flock to devastated town
Willing volunteers have come from as far west as Omaha, Nebraska, as well as neighboring states like Wisconsin and Missouri.
Mike Turner, a volunteer from Kansas City associated with multiple disaster relief organizations, including ITDRC, Samaritan’s Purse and Team Rubicon, has been stationed in Greenfield since Tuesday, May 28.
“Even though I live three hours away, I work hand-in-hand with the people,” Turner said. “You really do feel like you’re a part of the community, and it’s always a great place to come back and visit and see how the rebuilding process goes.”
Christina Bettini, who helps coordinate the volunteer efforts alongside Lane, said communities that have faced similar tornado recovery have also pitched in.
“We’ve been getting a lot of people from Winterset or even Parkersburg where other people have been hit by a tornado or disaster,” she said.
Winterset was hit by an EF4 tornado in March 2022, which tracked along Carver Road on the south side of town. Winterset is half an hour from Greenfield.
More: Greenfield tornado damaged, destroyed at least 153 Iowa homes in roughly one minute
A hometown lift
Local volunteers are showing up to support their community members, too.
“I helped the neighbors of my family’s house. We were going through stuff and looking for salvageable things,” Courtney Bax of Greenfield said. “We were out there last night going through clothes we’d found and stuff. Wherever they tell us to go, I’ve been helping.”
More: Funeral services start soon for Greenfield tornado victims
Bax was joined by Aleca Viera of Fontanelle on Saturday, helping clean up a farm littered with debris. Viera is a lifelong Adair County resident who saw an opportunity to help neighbors.
“I grew up here, so I have connections to a lot of people that lost their stuff and it just feels good to try to do something to help,” Viera said. “The feeling of watching it on TV and being so far away was so helpless.”
Greenfield still needs additional volunteers to help with the recovery. The local volunteer reception center is located in the parking lot of Cardinal IG Company and can be reached at 515-561-3744.
Organizations or individuals in need of volunteers are encouraged to reach out to Volunteer Iowa at 641-631-6555.
“This is going to be a long process,” Turner said. “But whatever little thing I can do to help out, whether that’s delivering meals or taking debris out to the curb for a homeowner, is a little bit better than nothing.”
More information about clean-up and volunteer opportunities in Greenfield can be found on the state of Iowa’s website.
Kyle Werner is a reporter for the Register. Reach him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Devastated Greenfield sees influx of volunteers after tornado
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