JACKSONVILLE, Arkansas — It's been just over two weeks since a tornado made its way through central Arkansas impacting several communities including the city of Jacksonville where several businesses and homes were destroyed.
A lot of debris has been cleaned up in the city’s hard-hit areas thanks to efforts from the community.
“I started going to a couple of different places that were like passing out food and supplies and stuff and trying to get connected and lend a hand wherever I could,” said Christopher Erkel.
Like many people in the city Christopher Erkel jumped into action as soon as the tornado passed, and others joined him, like Joseph Park.
“See some of the real the relief that it provides to people. It really, it's a rewarding, it's rewarding in your heart,” said Park.
Working together to clean up the city led to the creation of Project Jacksonville, an organization Erkel started a few years ago.
“It started off just picking up a little bit of litter and cleaning up empty property lots,” said Erkel.
They put the organization on pause, but now they're back in action working to help the city they call home recover.
“Last week, whenever they cleared everybody to come clean to pre park that I was able to go out there and do some cleaning there for a couple of days,” said Erkel. “And then just yesterday, I spent some time over by the elementary school.”
The group plans to continue lending a helping hand to whoever may need it beyond tornado recovery
“We're all going through stuff and some more severe than others, but we need to be there for each other,” said Park.