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ELKHART — More than a dozen students from The Crossing Educational Center in Elkhart were among local people lending their hands to tornado relief efforts in southern Indiana.
“It was amazing to see all the destruction there,” said student Mickee Crisler, 19, shortly after getting back to Elkhart Monday evening. “We worked as hard as we could to help them out.”
Crisler and several other students spent Sunday and Monday moving brush and tree limbs so that residents could re-enter their homes to salvage whatever they could.
“There were just miles of trees knocked down,” he said.
Marysville is about 20 miles north of Louisville and about 10 miles east of Interstate 65. Much of the small town was destroyed, but Crisler did see a house that was barely damaged across the street from a house that was blown away.
Marysville residents understandably were devastated, but they also were gracious and grateful to those who came to help, Crisler said.
“We even saw a couple of smiles by the time we left.”
Rob Staley, The Crossing’s executive director, and his team of 14 students and five staff members left for southern Indiana around 5:30 a.m. Sunday.
The students, some of whom are part of a tree-removal class at The Crossing in Elkhart, worked from noon until after 5 p.m. without breaks.
“We never stopped working,” Staley said.
Even though the area was a disaster zone and many students and staff members hadn’t seen anything like it, the team worked hard at its mission, Staley said.
Staley said he was proud “of my kids and staff, and my community” for stepping up to help people in the Marysville area. He said it will be a life-changing experience for those who made the journey.
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