Deputy who lost home in April 2017 tornado celebrates volunteers who built him a new home

Deputy gets his home back
Deputy gets his home back
Updated: Oct. 13, 2018 at 6:54 PM CDT
Email This Link
Share on Pinterest
Share on LinkedIn

FRUITVALE, TX (KLTV) - After a family of law enforcement officers lost their homes to the tornadoes in Van Zandt County last year, the community joined together to help them rebuild-- now they are finally back in a space they can call home.

“It wasn’t real, we see so much stuff as law enforcement that it just seemed like another scene to work,” Van Zandt County deputy Damon Williams says. Van Zandt County deputy Damon Williams relives April 29th, 2017 when his home and his family’s homes were torn apart by the devastation. “It really never set in I guess because we still had each other,” Williams says.

A year and a half later, Williams family is finally ready to settle into their new homes; thanks to the many volunteers willing to give back.

“At the time of the storm, I was the mayor of Fruitvale, and worked from the night of the storm until we finished up this house about every Friday and Saturday,” volunteer Carl Waddell says. Carl Waddell was one of the dozens of volunteers from all over the state of Texas that came to the small town of Fruitvale to rebuild three homes.

“This was an opportunity for people to come out and make a difference and provide help and resources and put together an effort and this is what we ended up with,” contractor David Eiland says.

The homes were constructed and built completely from donations.

And today, the Williams family decided it was their time to give back and celebrate those willing to help. “Today is a celebration for all of the volunteers that came down, those who sought us out, showed up out of the blue to help, driving down the road, whatever, this is for them, this is us saying thank you,” Williams says.

Homemade plaques were given to the head of each organization who volunteered, including the construction company, the Fruitvale Baptist church, and the city of Flower Mound.

The Williams say because they are law enforcement officers, they tend to see the bad in people but after all of the love and support they have received; their faith has been restored.

Copyright 2018 KLTV. All rights reserved.