Omaha storm recovery: Missouri church group travels miles to help with storm cleanup

BELLEVUE, Neb. (WOWT) – A Missouri mission team spent their Tuesday dropping off tree debris at Bellevue’s Haworth Park.

The team is a part of River Bluff Fellowship. They traveled hundreds of miles to Omaha on Sunday just to help the community.

“When the storm came through I said let’s change what we’re doing and see how we can meet needs,” Gary Standefer, Mission team leader said.

The group is scattered across the city and they’re helping with more than just debris drop off.

“We got guys around like Olde Towne in Bellevue, mowing yards and as they find limbs and debris they’ll send me addresses and we’ll go back out in a few minutes,” Standefer said.

Standefer said they plan to stay until the end of next weekend and they’re hopeful to help as many homes as they can.

“We were hit pretty rough,” Phil Davidson with the city of Bellevue said. “We had a lot of tree damage and we had a lot of Bellevue residents without electricity.”

Davidson said their ‘Cedar Island Road’ tree debris drop off location filled up quickly after the storms hit.

“We haven’t gotten rid of the debris from the last storms and Christmas so we’re going to need to bring in a contractor to chip that,” Davidson said.

Davidson hopes there will be enough space at Haworth for Bellevue residents and those like Standefer so everyone can drop off their tree debris until the site closes on Sunday.

“When there’s a need we should step up and help make that easier on people,” Standefer said.

The city of Bellevue wants to remind the community that if you use these drop off sites that it is only for tree debris.

As for curbside pick up, that will start in Bellevue neighborhoods next week.

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