300+ Volunteers Rebuild Merrillville After Tornado

Argie Garcia couldn't help but laugh when she saw the Indiana-American Water crew arrive in their bright yellow vests. "Minions!" she shouted, and the exhausted volunteers around her burst into giggles at the decimated home on Taft Place.

Garcia had every reason not to be there. She'd just finished a 12-hour overnight shift at her job with United Autoworkers Local 2335. The June 11 tornado that ripped through Merrillville had destroyed her own garage.

But this was her neighborhood, and she wasn't about to sit it out. "You have to laugh, or you'll cry," she said, hauling debris alongside 300 other volunteers who showed up on June 26.

The numbers were staggering. What Merrillville Fire Chief Ed Yerga initially thought was six destroyed homes turned out to be 205 homes beyond repair. Another 61 suffered major damage, with hundreds more affected.

United Way of Northwest Indiana partnered with Legacy Foundation, American Red Cross, Salvation Army, and the Town of Merrillville to coordinate the massive cleanup. The Big Shoulders Fund brought 50 students from Andrean High School to help.

Fourteen-year-old Emma Jocic had seen the damage to her school but was shocked when she saw the neighborhoods. Being out there helping "just felt right," she said.

Senior Mitchell Myers understood the bigger picture. "We want to show that we're not just for Andrean," the 17-year-old explained as he cleared debris.

The Ripple Effect

The community response lifted spirits across Merrillville in unexpected ways. Police Chief Kosta Nuses said officers added patrols in affected neighborhoods with their lights on steady so residents would know they weren't alone.

The result surprised everyone. Officers started getting out of their cars and talking to people, and morale shot up. "They're more than happy to be out there," Nuses said.

Shaun Patterson, crisis preparedness coordinator for United Way, called it the largest effort he'd undertaken in three years with the organization. The seamless coordination between organizations showed what a community could accomplish when everyone pulled together.

Fire Chief Yerga still marveled at one fact: despite the massive destruction requiring the department's first-ever full emergency plan activation in 37 years, only one person was injured and nobody died.

Garcia and her friends from Habitat for Humanity and Centier Bank kept working through the heat, proving that sometimes the best way to heal your own wounds is to help your neighbors heal theirs.

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