COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Victims of the March tornadoes in Putnam County received monetary aid from a fund set up by the county and city government.
A fund of more than $2.3 million was raised from donations for people who lost homes or property in the tornado, according to Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter.
Porter said nearly 500 people received aid.
"We just distributed the last of the checks out to the survivors at the end of June," said Mayor Porter. "It was almost 500 tornado survivors that we put the money back to to help them with whatever they needed it for. To help rebuild, replace vehicles, medical bills, whatever it might've been. That was unbelievable to be able to have that amount of money to give back to our folks."
Porter said after the tornadoes ravaged a stretch of neighborhoods in the area, killing 19 people, he noticed scams were popping up that promised to donate money to the victims. Instead of allowing that to happen, both Porter and Cookeville Mayor Ricky Shelton started the fund at a local bank.
"We had a lot of people that lost everything. Their home, all of their belongings, some of the family members and they had to totally start from scratch," said Porter.
One woman whose long-time restaurant was damaged received some of the aid money.
Dipsy Doodle is a family-owned restaurant off Highway 70 where the tornado destroyed many homes. The owner, Debbi Daniels, said the roof and kitchen of the business were heavily damaged. Then COVID-19 hit which slowed repair work.
The business closed in March and didn't open until July 13. That was only for to-go orders.
"It's devastating still till this day driving down highway 70 because people that you know that's been here for as long as I can remember, they're gone now," said Daniels.
She plans to reopen in full next week if everything goes well with repairs.
"I was one of the lucky ones. 19 people lost their lives in Putnam County. Just blocks from down the road here," she said.
Dipsy Doodle was able to stay open thanks to the donation money, but also what was collected from insurance.
Daniels said it's been a hard road.
"I want to continue this restaurant and hopefully my children or my grandchildren will continue after me to keep the Dipsy Doodle name going," she said.
