Residents in northern Illinois returned to their devastated communities this week to pick up the pieces after a massive tornado tore through the region.
The deadly EF4 tornado unleashed winds that reached 200 miles an hour and left behind a 50-mile-wide trail of destruction. Many homes and businesses in its path were demolished.
Operation Blessing arrived within hours after the storm struck. It has been supporting local emergency management teams and connecting with long-time partners, such as the chaplains with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team and Rockford First Assembly of God.
The tornado also ripped through agricultural areas, so Operation Blessing is helping farmers clear their fields so they can still plant and harvest.
"Operation Blessing has come in, gotten all this stuff off the fields...still continuing to do it so it can be hauled away so I can farm," said Marvin Metzger.
More than 1,300 volunteers joined up with Operation Blessing to help residents in the city of Rochelle, where they've been clearing debris, cutting down damaged trees and moving piles of brush.
"We're in the Midwest and not only do we have lovings hearts here to help, we have a lot of heavy equipment," Operation Blessing Vice President Jody Gettys said.
"It's made a huge difference here in this community."
Jim Schabacker's farm was hit hard and he's grateful for the love and support of the volunteers.
"Operation Blessing volunteers did wonderful work," he said. "They gleaned our fields...I mean without 'em I don't know how we'd ever get it done."
Operation Blessing's goal is to share the love of Christ in very tangible ways to families who have lost so much.
"In the beginning of the day, I noticed that some of the residents we were helping had a demeanor that lacked hope and that by the end of the day, I saw smiles and I saw that while people were talking at the end of the day, there was a difference that the yard that they had when they went to sleep was different than the yard that they had when they woke up," volunteer Jon Rush said.
"What was an overwhelming problem in the morning was something that was solved by the end of the day," he said, smiling.
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