DECATUR, Ark. — Student volunteers from Gravette, Siloam Springs, and Gentry High Schools were all on hand to help clear debris in Decatur after tornadoes killed four and damaged countless homes over Memorial Day weekend.
“I think it's fantastic,” said Betty Turner, a resident of Decatur. “We've had a lot of different people come out here to help us, and we have more people coming.”
Betty and her husband Tom own land in Decatur, including a mini-storage business. Most of the storage structures were heavily damaged, but she and her husband were safe, and their house suffered minor damage.
“We have a mini storage on the right, we have our barns and stuff on the left, and by the grace of God, it missed us in the middle,” Betty said.
State government officials and local school districts were able to work together to help get the volunteer program started.
In a Benton County press conference on June 7, State Senator Tyler Dees stated that an element of the LEARNS Act that was passed this year, requires students to have community service hours. He added he worked with the local superintendents to help make this possible.
“So thankful for these students from the high schools coming out,” State Representative Delia Haak said. “They're earning service hours that are required of them as they graduate in the next few years. They're here volunteering, waking up early on a Friday in the summertime, to come out and help.”
Ella Hunter, an incoming sophomore at Siloam Springs High School, heard about the volunteer program through emails sent out to families within the district.
“I wanted to sign up after hearing about how many tornadoes had gone through, and how many homes and things were destroyed, I thought cleaning up a little bit might be helpful,” Hunter said.
As the student volunteers went around looking for damage and debris to clear, they also looked for personal items to be returned to their owners.
“I think it's really nice to be able to come out here and clean up after everything that happened,” said Brayleigh Scarberough, an incoming sophomore at Siloam Springs High School. “These people lost a lot of personal items, and so getting to retrieve them is really nice.
As the long road to recovery continues, community members coming out to support helps in the process.
“These are individual families and folks that are really hurting, and we just don't want to forget them,” Rep. Haak said. “It's been a totally phenomenal effort of people stepping out and coming out, taking time away from their own busy schedules and demands, to help out folks that have been really hit hard by this tornado.”
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