Over 100 student athletes helped clean up softball coach Dalinda Cassel’s aunt and uncle’s house on Monday due to destruction by the tornadoes in Canton. They completed weeks of work such as picking up debris, trash and tree limbs in only two hours.

“It shows leadership, admiration and humbles you as an individual when you help those who are in need,” Cassel said. “We preach to our student athletes all the time about family and being their for one another.”

The amount of effort that the students put into helping Cassel’s family boosted Cassel’s respect for the work ethic of the students of the high school. When students were informed on Friday that they would be helping, they were more than ready to pitch in.

“We are very grateful for the school’s generosity and prayers,” Cassel said. “This was a way for students to give back to communities that are around them, and it was overwhelming  that many people came out to help me family.”

As students reminisce about the storms that struck Lindale last year, a sense of community grows as destruction hits close to home.  People from many surrounding areas came to assist Canton in the cleanup process of rebuilding their town.

“I was grateful to be able to give back to my community,” sophomore Mattie Stricklin said. “When the tornados struck Lindale, people from Canton helped with our clean up so it was kind of like returning the favor. On the bus ride up, everyone was talking and laughing but as soon as we got into Canton and saw the destruction, the bus went silent.”

Athletes express their reactions to seeing the destruction all around Canton.

“We were all in shock seeing all the damage those storms did,” offensive linemen Cason Cheney said. “We cleaned up all the scattered metal in the yard, the insulation from inside the house, and piled up logs.”