By a Reporter
TUSCALOOSA | Disney Channel TV actor Dylan Riley Snyder joined high school student volunteers Thursday to help Habitat for Humanity rebuild a Rosedale home destroyed by the April tornado.
But seeing the local destruction isn’t anything new for the 14-year-old actor on the show “Kickin’ It.” Snyder, who also came to Tuscaloosa to volunteer immediately after the storm, is originally from Tuscaloosa and still has family in the area. He said he is impressed with the area’s response after the tornado.
“I like how the entire community has come together to rebuild,” Snyder said.
Snyder is just one of thousands of volunteers who have come from across the nation to help Habitat for Humanity rebuild homes in the Tuscaloosa area. Since the tornado hit on April 27, about 2,000 volunteers have come to help Habitat for Humanity of Tuscaloosa, said Jared Patterson, volunteer and partnership director with the local Habitat.
“We have volunteers come from everywhere,” Patterson said. “A strong concentration of them are from the South, but they also come from across the country.”
Before the storm, Habitat built about one to three houses a year in the Tuscaloosa area, Patterson said. But the tornado changed all that. In 2012, the local Habitat plans to build 30 to 50 houses in Tuscaloosa in areas affected by the tornado. About 4,000 volunteers are expected to help with the construction of those homes.
“If it weren’t for the volunteers, we wouldn’t be able to do what we are doing,” said Heather Poe, office manager for the local Habitat for Humanity.
'Dylan Riley Snyder For Fans says: Well done Dylan! We are proud of you!'