Volunteers, businesses helping Glen Allen recover following tornado

GLEN ALLEN, Mo. -- Several Southeast Missouri organizations have pitched in to help with the cleanup in the aftermath of the tornado April 5 that destroyed 12 homes and damaged 87 structures in Bollinger County, Missouri.

The county's emergency management director, Kevin Cooper, said he's been grateful all the organizations that have come to help have been able to do the work without needing constant oversight from him.

"I cannot even come close to saying enough about all the people and organizations who have come out to help," Cooper said. "They have been phenomenal. EquipmentShare, Lutheran Ministries, Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief. ... I can't even begin to list everyone."

Jordan Carver, general manager of the Cape Girardeau EquipmentShare location, said he sent excavation equipment, generators and light towers as well as personnel to help. He said they have been working with local law enforcement and emergency management personnel in coordinating their efforts. Carver said more than a dozen of his employees have been working in Glen Allen, some up to 15 hours a day.

"We've been pulling trees off houses and getting them cut up and hauled away," Carver said. "Then we have three woodchippers on-site that we'll be feeding limbs and turning them into mulch that can be hauled off or reused or recycled."

Ryan Rawson, owner of Rawson Excavating out of Murphysboro, Illinois, also came with some of his employees to "help people in their time of loss." He said he was "overwhelmed" by the response from individual volunteers.

"Glen Allen is just a dot on the map, but people came together and showed up to help," Rawson said. "Sometimes small towns get forgotten about in a lot of aspects, but that wasn't the case this time."

Carver and Rawson both said they understand their companies won't be getting paid as contractors under state or federal emergency relief organizations.

Local officials were notified earlier this week that the small rural community didn't qualify for Federal Emergency Management Agency relief. According to federal guidelines, a minimum of nearly $11 million in public infrastructure damage is required before the federal agency will declare it a disaster area and release funds.

The lack of federal support has meant the community is leaning hard on volunteer efforts and local donations.

Carver said he attended a meeting April 6 in the Woodland High School gymnasium for "anybody who wanted to volunteer or help with the effort." He said he saw more than a dozen vehicles with equipment on trailers in the parking lot. When they were told there would be no contracts offered for services, Carver said, "between 50% and 75% of the trucks with equipment left."

"It's a full volunteer effort," Carver said. "We just saw the need, and we just wanted to fill it."

Carver's team also worked with the EquipmentShare Foundation, a not-for-profit funded by EquipmentShare employees, to pass out phone chargers and power banks as well as gift cards to help impacted residents get what they needed.

Eddie Barnhill, head of mass feeding for Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief, said they have had 82 volunteers in Glen Allen since April 5 when the tornado ripped through the area.

"We've been preparing meals for the community, we've been doing chain saw work, providing showers and laundry service for those affected," Barnhill said.

John Nissley, assistant coordinator for Rapid Response Services of Christian Aid Ministries, said his organization had volunteers there the day of the tornado going door to door in Glen Allen, asking residents what they needed in terms of debris removal, home repairs and heavy equipment work. He said the Amish- and Mennonite-based organization brought in 15 to 20 volunteers, some bringing their own "skip-loader" tractors. Nissley estimated they will be working through the middle of next week.

Brian Underwood, director of Lifesaver Ministries out of Park Hills, Missouri, had a team of more than a dozen volunteers working to clear and burn trash and debris from a field where houses once stood.

"We came out to offer our help in any way that we could," Underwood said.

Several organizations have donated food and water and have been in Glen Allen cooking meals for anyone who needs it. EquipmentShare's corporate chef, Craig Hindelind, was on-site, serving pork chops.

Ryan Clark, vice president of the Marble Hill branch of Peoples Community Bank, was with 16 volunteers from his bank Thursday, April 13. They were serving a "sausage stir-fry" to residents and volunteers helping with cleanup.

Paul Gard, regional president of the Perryville branch of The Bank of Missouri, said they cooked hamburgers and hot dogs. He said they received food, water and supplies from Sam's Club in Cape Girardeau and Holloway Distributing out of Puxico, Missouri.

Several area organizations have set up fundraisers to provide assistance to those effected by the storm.