Monday marks one month since tornadoes devastated Van Zandt County.
The powerful storms killed four people and wiped out the homes and businesses of dozens more.
The cleanup is far from over, but help is on the way.
A fundraising concert was held all day on Sunday, as the community comes together to support those affected.
“This is a small community and we had a lot of devastation,” said Wesley Pruitt, one of the event’s organizers. “We are coming together today to raise a lot of funds for everybody in Van Zandt County.”
Six tornadoes ripped through the county on April 29th.
“I’m not real mobile right now, but I’m alive,” said Stacey Buck.
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Buck attended the fundraiser in Ben Wheeler.
The day of the tornadoes, Buck and her daughter ran from their mobile home, along Farm Road 2301 southwest of Canton, to her parents’ house next door.
She captured the wind and rain picking up and the clouds above the two-story house, but she didn’t know the twister was heading straight for them.
“It just started raining debris, and when it opened up, stuff just started flying down the hall,” she said. “I felt myself flip I would feel things continually beating and hitting on me.”
The winds separated her from her daughter and her parents.
The next thing she remembers is waking up, not knowing where she was standing.
Both homes were destroyed in the powerful tornado.
Buck’s family survived but she received injuries to her legs and feet. She was released from the hospital last week after nearly losing several toes.
“The big problem that I’m having is there’s a hole about this big on the bottom of my foot, where it was ripped open,” she said.
In the weeks since the tornado, her family has pulled together to try and recover belongings that were strewn all over their property and beyond.
FEMA, Buck says, has not provided the family with any financial assistance.
If you would like to help Stacey Buck's family recover from the storm, click here.
She also worries about other families in her community who are not as fortunate as she is to have a roof over her head at the moment.
Through it all, Buck says her faith has comforted her. And she’s quick to call out people who don’t see the miracle in this tragedy.
“If they can’t see where God works in these kinds of things then they need to sign up for the next F-4. And my daughter says yeah, and they need to bring their house with them,” she said.
The money raised on Sunday will go toward the Van Zandt County Tornado Relief Fund. Organizers estimate they will have raised about $50,000, money that will go to residents who applied for monetary assistance.
Another sign the community is getting closer to their normal activities is that the well-known First Monday Trade Days will open for the first time since the storms on Thursday.
