Donations Pour Into Tornado-Ravaged Lancaster
LANCASTER (CBSDFW.COM) - The debris is being cleared and some progress has been made in Lancaster. All neighborhoods are now open for residents to return, but at their own risk.
The Walker family came home to one of the city's hardest hit subdivisions. The family's house of 26 years is no longer the home they remember."My greatest concern is being able to rebuild, restore and heal from all of this," explained Donny Walker.
Of the 300 structures damaged in Lancaster, half of them are severely damaged. Two thousand residents have been impacted by the tornado.
Many of them are likely to end up at the indoor practice field at Lancaster High School at 200 E. Wintergreen Road. The facility has been converted to a resource center for tornado victims.
Donations by the truck-loads are arriving at the resource center, and so are the volunteers. Ronnie Lowe of the Lancaster Outreach Center huddled the entire Lancaster High football team together to praise them for their volunteer work.
"I know you all sacrificed a little bit of your practice area and some of your practice time to help us out," Lowe told the team. "That means a lot to us and it means a lot to your families and your community," he added.
The varsity football team spent the day unloading boxes of donations. There's a sense of duty and obligation among the players. Just about every one of them has been impacted in some way by the tornado.
"A lot of people lost their homes. We're kind of sad and down," said Demarcus Ayers. "Everybody at school is kind of depressed. I had some friends lose their homes. It was nice to come out and help the community," the senior quarterback added.
The resource center opens Friday at 10 am. Along with accepting and handing out donations, the center will also help tornado victims find shelter, rebuild their homes and have debris removed from their properties.
