LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The heat wave is not slowing down the continuing effort to rebuild after the March 2nd tornadoes in southern Indiana. In fact, the effort is about to reach a significant milestone.
The Southern Indiana tornado recovery effort, now known as March 2 Recovery, is about to welcome its 10,000th volunteer.
From serving meals to splitting wood, volunteers from across the country have been coming steadily for months to help March 2 storm victims recover and rebuild.
"This could never happen without volunteers. The importance of those people coming in and giving their time is absolutely amazing," said volunteer center manager Beverly Knight.
These men from Indianapolis are clearing wood from Marvin Moore's property.
"When we heard about the project here in Henryville, we just thought, hey, we could put work off for a day and come down and help out and that's what we did," said volunteer Bob Fasick.
Moore lost his home in the storm, and says he would have been nowhere near rebuilding without help from volunteers.
"Well, I wouldn't have done it. There's just too much work. You couldn't have had enough money to hire what was done here."
March 2 Recovery is taking steps to make sure volunteers stay safe during the heat wave, supplying plenty of water and even altering the work schedule.
"We've been leaving by 3:00 every day if not a little earlier just because of the hot part of the day. We want to keep everyone safe," said Knight.
"Lots of water obviously, and I think just the work is getting us through this. We're sweating' a little bit, but we're not complaining a whole lot. We're not feeling it because we're so into our job here today," said Fasick.
March 2 Recovery plans to continue for at least 18 more months. And it appears, there will be no shortage of help.
"Whatever it takes, we'll be here," said Knight. "And the volunteers, we have them scheduled through November of this year, and they call everyday. So I think the volunteers will stay with us until that last door is hung."
"Until you're involved in something like this, you really don't realize how many good people there is out there," said Moore.
March 2 Recovery says it will have a short ceremony to honor its 10,000th volunteer. Then, what else, back to work.
Copyright 2012 WDRB News. All Rights Reserved.
