Jeramie Church Volunteers in Pilger

“The National Weather Service has now said there were five tornadoes, four of which were EF-4,” stated Jeramie Church of Lincoln, formerly of Oakland, NE on t

Jeramie is pictured along with the damage the tornado did to Pilger. All Photos are credit of Jeramie Church.

he tornado outbreak Monday. Pilger, NE suffered extensive damage, with up to 75 percent of the town destroyed.

Jeramie was one of many volunteers in Pilger on Wednesday. “I heard that at least 1,000 people showed up to help,” Jeramie said.

Seeing the destruction in Pilger was very difficult.“ The people I felt were overwhelmed that so many people came to help. I am glad the death toll wasn’t higher,” Jeramie stated. “It was hard as a helper not to be sensitive to their situation as we helped dig through their belongings.”

Some people were more fortunate than others in the aftermath of the tornado. “It is bad there. Some people have nothing to clean up because there was nothing left,” Jeramie said.

He saw all types of damage in Pilger. “One house was totaled and the neighbor’s house only had some damage,” Jeramie stated.

He was happy to volunteer in Pilger. “I didn’t do anything anyone else wouldn’t do. It was hard to leave. I wanted to do more,” Jeramie said.

Jeramie attended a spotter training class in April. “I heard June was going to be an active month at the class. Pilger was an eye opening experience,” Jeramie stated.