GREENFIELD, Iowa — Volunteer groups and Greenfield natives have spent the past week and a half clearing streets and roads to improve access into the city after a deadly, EF-4 tornado ripped through many families' homes on Tuesday, May 21.
Clean-up and recovery efforts from the American Red Cross and FEMA have helped supply residents with food and water, while other Iowans have traveled across the state to offer their homes, rescue trapped pets and coordinate insurance benefits.
On Saturday, dozens of residents got a different type of help from one of their neighbors: Gary Freeland.
Freeland lost his home in the tornado. He said he and his relatives had climbed into a 3x3 square of concrete walls inside his home guarded by a "flimsy door." Freeland recalled them trying to get his brother-in-law out of the bathroom and into a safer position.
While in the basement Freeland's phone lit up with a text message saying: "I hear things are bad there, I'm praying for you."
That message gave Freeland faith and confidence he and his family were being watched over, as the tornado went right above their house. Once they felt the storm break contact with their property, the family eventually made their way outside, but where the roof was supposed to be covering their home, no longer covered the Freeland house.
Instead, they opened the door to their garage and saw the sky clouded with severe weather.
That's not all to go without saying, the tornado hasn't stopped Freeland from being the selfless person he is. In fact, he decided last weekend to host a benefit concert for the city's tornado survivors, with all the money raised going to those people.
It was an emotional event full of support, and full of music. Five groups from Iowa and Missouri volunteered their time and transportation costs to be at the Greenfield special benefit concert, to help.
Freeland recalled the conversations he had with the groups earlier in the week when he was still working to set up the concert, saying: "I got nothing to pay you to get here," and the groups said to Freeland: "We'll be there."
Gospel music filled the sanctuary area of The Gathering Place on Kent Street, as residents sat back and tried to relax as much as they could after a demanding week, mentally and physically.
"To be able to see [my neighbors] and maybe cry with them, and maybe hug 'em, it's going to be really nice," Freeland told Local 5 News. "I would say 90% what I wanted to happen today is for people in that mass, to come here, and relax and be loved."