Vehicles haphazardly thrown atop rooftops, buildings torn in half, trucks flipped over and homes transformed into piles of debris confronted DePauw volunteers as they arrived in Henryville Saturday.
Hours after a powerful tornado nearly leveled the southern Indiana town of Henryville, 22 DePauw students piled into cars to make the two and a half hour journey to the site of the disaster to lend a helping hand.
“The tornado hit so close to home, I felt compelled to help,” said freshman Richard Walsh, who organized the volunteer group. “I know there was nothing that we had scheduled to do on our Saturday that was more important than reaching out to this community.”
After receiving a phone call from his grandmother, a Red Cross volunteer in Ohio, on Friday night regarding the disaster, Walsh decided to take action. He contacted the Bonner Scholar Program for approval of the project and then reached out to students, inviting them to make the trip to Henryville.
The students departed from campus Saturday morning at 8 a.m., bringing along nine bags of clothing donations and many helping hands. When the group arrived they were not immediately allowed to enter the city. They were instead redirected to the Jefferson Red Cross Station, where they participated in a basic training orientation.
“When we arrived, we were sent to a local Church for an orientation,” said sophomore Chelsea Naylor, who helped Walsh to organize the event. “I was shocked by how packed the church was. It was literally packed with volunteers responding to the disaster that had happened not even 24 hours previously.”
After the orientation students went to various centers to help begin sorting supplies and donations for the victims.
“Sorting donations might not have been the most gallant task to do, but it definitely made a difference,” Naylor said. “We had such a large group that we were able to make a bigger impact and do jobs much more quickly than they could have been done otherwise.”
Later in the afternoon, eight students were able to go into Henryville to help relief teams. The group was shocked by the destruction by which they were confronted. Highways, buildings and homes lay in shambles, completely destructed.
“Oh man, nothing can compare,” said senior Vincent Aguirre, who stayed overnight helping with relief efforts. “Seeing the destruction, it was the strangest feeling. Words can’t describe it. It was like a scene from a movie. It was just unreal.”
“It was a really emotional experience,” Walsh said. “It’s hard to talk about. It was just so hard to see the destruction and know that there might still be bodies underneath the rubble.”
While the students believe that they did make an impact, there is still a significant amount of work to be done before the community is livable. The group is currently making plans to return to Henryville next weekend.
“I am so glad that I had the opportunity to meet such a phenomenal group of people and to make a difference,” Naylor said. “You could see the gratitude on people’s faces. Our help was wanted and appreciated. The bigger the group is, the bigger the impact. I will definitely go again.”
