WHITELAND — This week marks one year since destructive storms and tornadoes ripped through central Indiana.
One of those affected communities was the town of Whiteland.
An estimated 130 properties were damaged on March 31, 2023.
Ross Stackhouse was one of the people spearheading relief efforts.
“Disaster relief is local. Beginning, middle, and end, is local," Stackhouse said.
He's the Pastor at HeavenEarth Church, one of the main distribution sites providing relief to families in the weeks after the tornado.
Clothes, food, blankets, diapers, and more lined the pews of the church the month of April.
“We’re still working. It’s a year later and that tells you the complexity of this," Stackhouse said.
Stackhouse is also the chairman of the Johnson County Long Term Recovery Group, which has spent the last year assisting over 200 families with unmet needs.
“It’s a team of eight teams. Construction, disaster relief case management, finance, spiritual and emotional care. We had to find folks who were willing to volunteer on those teams and then we had to find chair-people who would be on those teams. That’s the steering team," Stackhouse said.
Right now, there are about 10 remaining active cases.
“For the most part, everyone is on the road to recovery," Director of Administration for the Town of Whiteland Carmen Young said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency declared the tornado a federal disaster.
Whiteland, and neighboring municipalities that lent a helping hand, received reimbursement for money spent on debris management and emergency protective measures.
FEMA covered 75 percent of the costs — approximately $365,000.
“The biggest impacts were electricity, looking at getting generators on our buildings so we have access if we were to lose power. And communications were huge, as well. Our police department is actually working on bringing in a mobile unit that could provide us with cellular service, if we lose cell service like we did in. March," Young said.
Displaced residents are still returning home to Whiteland.
What Young says is an encouraging sight.
“To see people back in their homes, on their properties and proud of what they have now. Everybody that I’ve talked to has a positive outlook on things," she said.
