A cleanup of the Zehr family’s property in Chatsworth that was hit by a tornado saw a large turnout.
Homeowner and mother of five, Roxie Zehr says roughly 140 people showed up at their property on Saturday.
“It was a really good turnout. We’re very grateful to have everybody come out and lend a helping hand,” says Zehr.
Zehr says there were neighbours, friends, family friends, people from their church and the greater community, adding, “People brought their chainsaws, they brought their tractors and four-wheelers and just other various equipment and Pastor Tim Chambers, he had some work gloves he was handing out and and buckets for people and just everybody was out in the fields and picking up and it was wonderful.”
She notes, “A lot of our roofing from our house was out there, pieces of the barn roofing was out there and contents from our house was found out there.”
She says at least one thing was recovered in good shape, “I know one of my daughters, her hula hoop was found and fully intact so she was excited about that,” says Zehr, who notes, “We have soybeans in the field and so we really did need to get that stuff out of there so that the tractors wouldn’t be affected with all that there.”
She says the cleanup event went smoothly, explaining, “I was amazed, it was super organized. That was Tim Chambers, I believe he organized it along with Chad (Gordon) they’re pastors at South End Baptist Church, ” says Zehr who adds, “They had everybody sign in and go out in groups, and they just knew where to send everybody. It was just really well done. We’re so thankful.”
Zehr says her kids and their grandparents set up a wooden bathroom door that had been torn right off during the tornado and painted it with hand prints, “We were asking that people would sign it, and personalize it. It’s hard to get around and talk to everybody who was here and just to have that to look back on and see who was here is kind of neat.”
The cleanup began at 8 Saturday morning and began to wrap up around 2 p.m.
Zehr says they’re staying elsewhere as they continue to clean up the property and wait to hear about insurance in order to decide what to do next with their house and their property.
“We are very thankful,” says Zehr, adding, “We’re very appreciative to everybody who came out, organized it and leant a helping hand and supported us in that way. It’s very thoughtful.”
A GoFundMe page has now raised over $110,000 for the family.
It was great seeing so many members of the community out helping out the Zehr family Saturday morning. Check out the FB live I shot while there – https://t.co/BFVeRqJQuL #BruceGreyOwenSound #volunteers #community https://t.co/NUSjTmWggo pic.twitter.com/GCzJDWoWDW
— Alex Ruff (@AlexRuff17) July 5, 2021
