Henryville Helpers

A few months ago, Paul and his sister Teresa put out the call to their Logansport high school class and some friends to join them in Henryville, IN to assist with Disaster Recovery operations.  On March 2, 2012 - massive tornadoes struck Henryville and five surrounding counties.  The devastation was quick and powerful.

Paul and Teresa are from Logansport IN, just north of Indianapolis.  They decided to organize a group to come to Henryville and help.  We were part of that group and others in VROC - "Volunteers in Rebuilding Our Community".

Paul found volunteers were being housed at the Country Lake Christian Retreat in Henryville.
Country Lake has housed and fed over 10,000 volunteers since the tornadoes in March.  They found a short driveway on the property where we could dry camp in our RV's.

  Cathy, Pam, Bobbi, Paul and Tom 

Henryville Helpers arriving at Country Lake

Later after everyone arrived, we went out to dinner at a locale pizza place.

We had our morning and evening meals at the Main Lodge.  It worked out very well and we had GREAT food.  In fact, it was fantastic food.  Almost too much.  Big meals at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Our work was spread out in four houses.  Mary did some painting of the trim while Paul and others spent most of the week sheet rocking the inside of these houses.  Tom and Cathy helped Jerry wire one house.

One of the bigger accomplishments at the house Pam and I worked on was to connect the 3" sewer pipe from the house to the 4" pipe in the ground.  

The extension from the house had to be cut off, angled downward a couple times at 45 degrees and then the transition joint had to fit correctly.   We were slowed by heavy rain one day, but we got it done.

We also connected the water from the street and got some plumbing and bathroom fixtures up.

One highlight of the day was our noon meal.  The Henryville Community Church served lunch every weekday for about 50 people.

Over the past 6 months, they have had donations from a number of warehouses and distribution centers.
It was  amazing!  The volunteers there load and load the food, make up fantastic dishes for everyone and serve it up each day.  It is quite an operation.

The whole week was great.  It was great to meet Paul's classmates and others who were there.

Here they were gathering for a group shot in front of the fireplace at the lodge.

Our time at Henryville was great on many fronts.  We added some labor to the monumental task of rebuilding houses and homes and helped families.  The Hope Christian Response Network anticipates volunteer work will continue in the area for another nine months.  They have over 250 homes to build or work on.  Today Habitat for Humanity starts a blitz there to build 10 homes.  Volunteers continue to help and there is plenty more to do.

That is all for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles.  Thanks for joining us!  Until next time.