Dozens of volunteers began showing up about 8 a.m. today at Ooltewah High School, the staging point for storm relief efforts in this community.
They checked in at the main office and were assigned to specific areas and houses where help is needed. Their mission: cut down trees, remove debris, cover damaged houses with tarps and anything else they could do to help victim’s of Friday’s heavy weather.
The school’s cafeteria was the collection point for donated chainsaws, tarps and gloves from Home Depot, and volunteers stopped by to pick up the gear they needed so they could get to work.
Long tables were filled with water and sodas donated by churches and individuals and Publix.
Volunteer Dustin Binegar, a Harrison, Tenn., resident said he came to help friends on Short Tail Springs Road. His home didn’t sustain any damage, but on Friday he saw what had happened in this area.
“It was devastation. It was bad,” he said.
“I came in to help take trees down and anything else that needs to be done.”
Perla Trevizo joined the Chattanooga Times Free Press in 2007 and covers immigration/diversity issues and higher education. She holds a master’s degree in newswire journalism from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, Spain, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Texas. In 2011 she participated in the Bringing Home the World international reporting fellowship program sponsored by the International Center for Journalists, producing a series on Guatemalan immigrants for which she ...
