More than a month after a powerful derecho produced widespread wind damage and multiple tornadoes across northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana, many people impacted by the storms are still on the road to recovery.

In Highland, Indiana Sara Stricklin remembers hearing multiple severe weather alerts going off on August 11. Those warnings stirred her into action, forcing her to quickly take shelter in her bathroom.

"Unfortunately for me, my neighbor's tree in her front yard wound up practically splitting down the middle, causing the branches to clip her house roof, and then basically collapse on top of mine, causing the roof over my two bedrooms to basically come down," Sara said. "I basically would have been underneath where the tree would have fallen on top of the portion of my roof."

Fortunately, Sara was not injured during the storm, but the damage in the area was extensive.

"There were tree branches littering almost every street," she said. "You really could not go down a single one and not see either an upturned tree or just tree debris everywhere."

Sara is just one of hundreds of people impacted by the August disaster to receive help from the American Red Cross. She visited the Indiana Region's Northwest Chapter located in Merrillville on Friday, September 18 to receive financial assistance from the Red Cross.

"I was pretty surprised at how easy it was just to walk in and get some assistance," said Sara. " It kind of changed everything up. It'll be very helpful for me.”

Her Red Cross caseworker, Thomas Butler, is a volunteer who deployed from the Louisiana Region along with his wife. He said it is rewarding to help so many people affected by this recent disaster.

"We've been doing it for the last 18 years, and we love it," Thomas said. "It feels good to help. It really does."

Members of the National Baptist Convention also partnered with the Red Cross for an event-based volunteering opportunity to help make phone calls to people impacted by the storms who may qualify for support.

"This is what we're supposed to do," said Angelique Smith, a volunteer with the Tree of Life Missionary Baptist Church in Gary, Indiana. "Come together as a community for people in need."

Lizette Ortiz is a Red Cross volunteer from Puerto Rico. As a Shelter Resident Transition Caseworker, she helps clients get access to the recovery resources they need. She said event-based volunteers from the National Baptist Convention who make phone calls are the first point of contact for some residents impacted by the disaster.

"Just helping [individuals] move into sustainable housing, and seeing them not leave, but feeling happy about going to a [new] place...helping them get there, is worthwhile," said Lizette.

Angelique said partnerships like the one between the Red Cross and the National Baptist Convention are critical, especially in a time of dire need.

"It’s like a chain link that links together," she described. "If you link one to another, it gets stronger and stronger, and you have enough to try to wrap everyone in that circle and try to help and give back.”

Other volunteers greeted residents as they walked into the Northwest Chapter building.

"My pastor told me that there was a need, so if there was a need, I'm like, okay, well, let me help," said Gloria Carpenter, a volunteer from Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church in Gary.

Jocelyn KuyKendall, who represented the First Baptist Church in Gary, said partnerships make it easier to help those who experienced damage during the disaster.

"It's great to have more opportunities, more effort, and more resources to help the community," she said.

Jocelyn has seen firsthand how much support means to those affected by the storms.

“We actually saw people with a smile on their faces finally," she said. "A lot of people were very distraught and depressed after the terrible storm that we had. So just seeing them smile…is like a great thing for us.”

To learn more about how the Red Cross is supporting communities across Indiana, visit RedCross.org/Indiana.

Written by Michael Van Schoik, Regional Communications Manager.