Habitat volunteer getting tornado-damaged homes ready for winter

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity’s Disaster Recovery Program is on pace to repair 25 tornado-damaged homes in North Minneapolis by the end of 2011. A lot of the work is patching roofs, replacing windows and siding and getting the homes ready for wintry weather.

Those were exactly the things Trena and Terry Sumrall’s home on Vincent Avenue North needed after it was hit. Trena was home at the time and says the sound of the tornado was terrifying. She still gets anxious anytime the sky grows dark.

The damage was going to cost the Sumrall family more than $10,000. “I was unemployed for a long time,” says Terry. “So we had to let the insurance go to keep the mortgage going. So I didn’t have any insurance at the time. Habitat came through for us and helped us a lot.”

Volunteers restored the Sumrall’s home in early October. The silver lining on this story: Terry landed a new full time job the day after the tornado hit.

Committed to rebuilding

Even while the debris was still being cleared away back in May, we were looking for ways to expand our programs to serve more families in North Minneapolis. It is clear the need is going to be great for quite some time in the areas hardest hit. More than 4,000 homes, many of them uninsured or underinsured, were damaged. Fortunately our A Brush with Kindness staff has plenty of expertise in repairing and restoring homes. Their years of experience helped us establish the Disaster Recovery Program. We hope to repair an additional 15 tornado-damaged homes in 2012.

By Betsy Sandberg