Nappanee

Friday Night Facts, the weekly newsletter of the State of Indiana Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives included the following report yesterday (November 30):

As many of you may remember, on October 18th, a tornado touched down in Nappanee and caused extensive damage and injuries. In usual Hoosier fashion, within a matter of hours, volunteers arrived on the scene and began to coordinate relief efforts. They provided direct assistance to 92 homes ranging from boarding up windows to cleaning up debris, put tarps on roofs and shingle replacement. They have operated the volunteer center since October 19th, 7 days a week, from 8 to 5 PM, as well as forming a long term recovery committee. Weekly meetings have been held with an average attendance of 57 individuals who represent over 27 different agencies.

The following is a break down of their volunteer efforts: 9383 volunteers, at an average of 6.5 hours per day (60,989 hours at an in-kind value of $1,204.542); donated the use of 54 skid steers; 3 front end loaders; 6 dump trucks; 2 large excavators; 216 chain saws and 4 flat bed trailers. These wonderful volunteers also assisted in a community wide clean up which included over 800 homes (approximately 1300 acres of fields); 3 home demolitions; 1 church demolition; 2 roof replacements and removed over 700 trees. These numbers do not reflect the Amish volunteers and the number of barns and homes they rebuilt.