By Amelia Orwick

WEST LIBERTY, Ky. — At the corner of Keeton Avenue and Craft Court sits a red brick house atop a plush green lawn.

The house is filled with typical furnishings. A table stands in the kitchen and a television sits in the living room.

But something is missing.

At second glance, one notices the lack of family photographs, children’s fingerprints on the walls and all the other signs of a place that has truly been lived in. This house is not a home.

The Shuck family, along with many others, lost their home during the tornado that swept through West Liberty, Ky., on March 2.

The Shucks received the opportunity to move into that quaint house on the corner shortly after, and since then, they have been working to rebuild their lives.

“We are a town that’s very driven … it’s always been a close-knit community,” Doris Shuck said. “I think that people are working very hard to recover.”

The improved weather in the days following the storm has allowed citizens, officials and volunteers to clean up without interruption.

“We’ve had a couple rainy days, but most of the time it’s been nice, or at least good, workable weather,” Richard Shuck said. “I think that’s made the biggest difference on how far we’ve moved.”

However, with every shard of broken glass and sliver of wood that was swept away, a piece of the community disappears as well. Fortunately, family, friends and even strangers have stepped in to fill the void that’s left behind and replace some of the necessities that were lost.

“Every day we have someone bring a care package to us; maybe a crock pot or a set of dishes, new towels,” Doris Shuck said.

Eleven-year-old Lindsey Shuck has also received support from her peers.

“I think every little girl in her class sent her a bag full of clothes,” Doris Shuck said. “And the word kind of got out that she didn’t have any Barbies or any baby dolls … and almost every day we’ll go to the front door and find a Barbie doll or some type of toy that someone has left for her.”

Perhaps the most heartening, though, has been the never-ending flow of thoughtful words and prayers.

“Every day we get cards in the mail,” Doris Shuck said. “It’s been very heartwarming to know that so many people, not just in our little town of West Liberty, but all over the United States, are thinking about us and praying for us.”

Although it may appear as if their life together lies in pieces on the ground where their home used to stand, the Shucks insist that they are glued together by their love for one another.

“There are people that I know that don’t have a supporting family,” Lindsey said. “Like they do, but not like I do.”

Their new house may not hold the memories or the belongings of their old house, but that’s all right by them.

As their 19-year-old son Austin Shuck said in a Facebook post following the storm, “A house is only a structure, but the people around you that make you who you are … that’s home, and a home is something that as long as I am alive I will never lose.”