"A tragedy to bring people together:" Picking up the pieces in Illinois after devastating tornado

FAIRDALE, IL (WITI) -- Cleanup is well underway in the wake of a deadly Illinois tornado. But it's going to take a lot of work to rebuild several towns. Both Fairdale and Rochelle were hit the hardest and you can see the devastation.

Homes destroyed, trees mangled and uprooted. Now a community is trying to move forward together.

Sometimes the moments of despair bring out the best in people.

"Makes a community come together, makes a stronger community," said Michael Lyp, volunteer.

In Kirkland, Illinois, dozens of volunteers unload hundreds of trunks to help their neighbors in nearby Fairdale.

Michael Lyp has been working all day.

"I figured this is the best thing to do because you're helping people," said Lyp.

The small community suffered unimaginable devastation.

"You could see it swirling and you could see the debris and all the sudden the transformer popped up," said Douglas Truran, survived tornado.

The destruction is heartbreaking. But people like Joe Cranden are trying to ease at least some of the pain.

"This is probably the only thing I really could do," said Cranden, dropping off items.

Because it is times of despair people sometimes realize what is most important and the kindness of others can be the strongest element to rebuilding.

"It should just take a tragedy to bring people together, we just need to stay together all the time as a community. That's what it's all about," said Cranden.

Those collecting items victims say the things they need most right now are items like rakes, work gloves and pet food -- to make things a little easier in the middle of all this destruction.