The deadline for those who were affected by the tornado and storms on March 2 of this year and who plan to seek assistance through the Bradley County Long-Term Recovery Organization, is Tuesday, Sept. 4.

“Anyone who had damage from the March 2 tornado needs to contact us at the LTRO, to meet and discuss your situation and see if there are any needs you may have and if there are things that we can do to assist you,” said Lisa Mantooth, LTRO case manager supervisor.

LTRO was formed soon after the storms of April 27, 2011, with Jim Polier being named recovery director for the organization. Since then, LTRO has helped families affected by those storms, as well as storms in May of that year, and the storms from early March of this year.

Projects are still ongoing for survivors of those previous storms, and of the March 2 twister. Currently, LTRO is involved with other organizations in the community such as the Bradley Baptist Association, Men and Women of Action, Habitat for Humanity of Cleveland, Broad Street United Methodist Church and United Way of Bradley County, the latter of which covers all administration expenses, ensuring all donations go 100 percent to help survivors.

Mantooth said LTRO has met with a few families affected by the March 2 tornado. She said there is the possibility others may not know help might be available.

“They may not have known about the LTRO, or thought they were going to be fine and could handle it on their own, or maybe there is something that they didn’t think about and they want to contact me to see if there is anything we can do for them,” she said.

Mantooth may be contacted at the LTRO office (located in the United Way of Bradley County building on Ocoee Street) by phone at 423-479-2020, or through email at LTROCM@gmail.com.

“We are proud of the work that we have done, and want to find out if we can help those affected by the storms earlier this year as well as those from last year’s storms,” she said.

LTRO remains involved in ongoing projects.

“Currently, we have two full (home) builds in progress, one which is anticipated to be completed in mid- to late-September, and the other is anticipated to be completed in October,” Mantooth said. “A third is scheduled to begin in the next month, and we have the potential for two other full-build projects in the future.”

There are several repairs that are in progress, Mantooth added.

“We have helped over 28 families complete repairs to storm-damaged homes, and have helped over 60 families get appliances through Whirlpool,” Mantooth pointed out. “We have helped 60-plus families with unmet needs and we still have more to do. It is important that the people from the March 2 storms come in and see us before Sept. 4 so we can help them, if possible, as well.”