ARABI, La. — Several high school kids spent this beautiful Sunday outdoors, but not for themselves. They volunteered their time to help tornado victims, like Cynthia Goodmon, clean up.
"It was really scary. I'm not going to say it wasn't," Goodmon recalled the March 22 tornado that ripped through her home in Arabi.
Despite not having a roof anymore, she is still smiling. She was in her bedroom when she heard the tornado approaching.
"I have to be positive because when I stepped to that window and I'm looking at it, I looked through this window and it came through this empty lot. I could see it right there so there was nothing else for me to do but get on my knees and pray and God took care of it and I'm still here to tell y'all this story," she said.
As her house is in pieces, it's hard to believe she was inside.
"I live here by myself but I had my daughter with me when it happened," she said. "It picked me up maybe about three inches."
Minor cuts aside, they are okay, but the mess left behind is too much for any person to handle on their own.
"Come here my volunteers!" Goodmon welcomed all her helpers. "I'm just blessed and I'm smiling at them like, 'oh my.'"
"I know if it would have been me, I'd want people to help me too," said Frederick Douglass High School Drill Team member, Percy Woods.
Volunteers with the nonprofit 'Give For 50Four' and drill team members with Frederick Douglass High School spent their Sunday helping Goodmon pack up what's salvageable.
"If it was me, I'd probably be crying right now, you know?" said Bavant Ladarde, Frederick Douglass High School Drill Team member.
As her belongings are packed into a storage unit, Goodmon is staying in a hotel.
"I think it is important for people to know the community is behind them and supporting them," said 'Give For 50Four volunteer, Kimberly Boia Brown.
They are saving what they can before more potentially severe weather comes next week.
"If the weather comes, there's not much more damage they can do right," Goodmon said. "I'm blessed and I still give praise to my Lord and Savior."