BENNINGTON, Neb. (KMTV) — Over a hundred volunteers came together Saturday, spending their weekend helping tornado victims in Bennington.
“We’ve been sending folks throughout the week to different locations, but wanted to set up an event where we could get a lot of people at one time.” Clint Adams Bennington City Council president said.
Some of them, a group of young people with the Future Farmers of America, they traveled in all the way from Blue Hill, Nebraska near Hastings.
“[We’re] just picking up trash and wood, really anything that doesn’t belong,” Carter Auten, volunteer, said. “Making piles, just helping where we can.”
The volunteers spent the day helping the owners of a home destroyed by the tornado by recovering debris it left in their nearby fields.
“We have a lot of bad weather too, and it’s really helpful when other people in our community and from other towns come and help us,” Aidyn Bonifas, volunteer said. “We wanted to do that for someone else.”
“We walked through the alfalfa fields and picked up any wood or metal pieces that are out there,” Megan Macklin, volunteer said.
Adams said the biggest need now still centers around debris removal,
“It’s a combination of picking up debris out of fields, helping cut down trees and a big need is hauling that debris off the property.” He said.
Auten, Bonifas, Macklin and the other volunteers are ready for the challenge, still willing to help victims for as long as it takes.
“I literally like the Nebraska Nice thing,” Auten said. “It really shows right now when hard times do it everybody’s here to help.”
The volunteers aren’t the only ones who came from far distances. Adams said some of the volunteers came from as far away as Minnesota.
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