Organizations helping Gary, Indiana, residents with food, resources amid 2nd week of power outages

Organizations are pitching in to provide help to more than 20,000 people in Northwest Indiana who've been without power for nearly two weeks.

In Gary, they're helping families with food and critical resources as restoration efforts continue.

Rita Ward and her neighbors are trying to stay optimistic, waiting for power to return in Calumet Township, which includes Gary. She says she's been without power for 12 days so far.

"It's been pretty rough because we're on septic here, so we have no water. Kind of living out of buckets and jugs," she said.

Ward is among the thousands still without power, almost two weeks since destructive storms led to widespread outages.

"It's been a struggle. The struggle is real, but we're hanging in there. I know it could be worse, so we're just praying, praying for power to come back on," she said.

Crews are racing around the clock to help restore power throughout northwestern Indiana. 

NIPSCO says this storm caused nearly 1,200 power poles to be broken — that's nearly 10 times more than the previous four major storms combined, the utility says.

At the Lake Ridge Fire Department, families arrive for relief resources as they grapple with a lack of power.

"It's beautiful to see the community come together and give resources," Jasmine Perez said. "It's been a lot. I do have three children. They all have to return back to school on Monday."

World Central Kitchen, known for providing food relief in war zones and natural disaster areas, is among the groups on the ground. They say they'll stay as long as needed as the area recovers.

"The primary need right now is for support for people who have been shut in from our more public distribution sites," Mae Bipart-Butler said.

Bipart-Butler is the manager of World Central Kitchen.  

"Since yesterday, when we served our first 500 meals, today we've grown to about 4,000 and will continue to grow to meet the need," she said.

On Sunday, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun announced that he deployed the Indiana National Guard to help clear the way for NIPSCO crews. ComEd also sent dozens of crews to help assist in restoration efforts.  

Gary Community School Corporation also announced on Sunday that school will resume Monday and will be operating on a two-hour delay for students.