HARROGATE, Tenn. (WVLT)- The volunteer spirit is alive and well in Claiborne County.

Even after a tornado tore through the small communities of Harrogate and Shawanee.

63 homes were damaged, five totally destroyed.

But the people there show us how they're stronger than the storm.

"Chain-saw..."

Four days later...and it's a sound that still fills the streets of Smith Drive in Harrogate.

Storm victim John Gidens says
"Clean up. Cleaning up a big mess."

The sound of something closer to silence came before all this for John Gidens and his family of five.

Gidens says,"we knew it was in our general area. We couldn't hear it. It was very still, very quite."

That calm came to a violent end...as an EF-2 category tornado side-swiped Gidens' home. Gidens' wife convinced him to come inside.. then the family took cover.

Gidens says,"by the time I was on the back porch watching the lightning. By the time I got down the stairs to the basement, the power went off and two seconds later, I could hear the garage door crunching like a pop can. The whole master bathroom, the ceiling was completely ripped off it. Most of the porch as you can see. Basically a lot of wind and a lot of water damage."

The Gidens won't work Tuesday. Instead they'll meet with insurance agents to figure out how expensive the damage is.

"Chain-saw..."

Meanwhile, Donald Goins has been hard at work for the past few days...for free.
He's part of the volunteer effort to clean up.

Donald Goins say, "I don't care a bit to help anybody as long as they're benefiting somebody. Cause I mean if it was my house, I would want them to do the same thing."

Goins and a few of his relatives have cut up dozens of trees, burning a lot of gas.
Bringing welcome noises to Claiborne County, the sounds of recovery.

Goins says, "people's lives are upside down now so. If I can do anything I can in my power to get people straightened back up, you know I'm all for it."

Volunteers are desperately needed in case you're interested in helping out.

Tuesday morning between 8 and 8:30, stop by Harrogate's city hall.
If you have equipment like chain-saws, you're more than welcome to bring them.