As a way to give back for the service provided to them after last year’s tornadoes, five Freeborn County families are opening their rebuilt homes for tours in September as part of a fundraiser for the Freeborn County chapter of the American Red Cross.

The Whirlwind House Tour, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 10, will feature the homes of Gordy and Kathy Toenges, John Perschbacher and Susie Avery, David and Mary Behrends, Paul and Tina Horejsi, and David and Becky Ausen.

The homes participating in the tour are on Freeborn County Road 46, 200th Street and 260th Street in Freeborn County. All were completely rebuilt after the tornadoes.

Local Red Cross Executive Director Jeanie Opdahl said tickets for the event are $12 and can be purchased at Accents in Alden, Ben’s Floral & Frame Design, Celebration’s Party & Gifts, Hallmark in the Northbridge Mall and the Freeborn County Red Cross office.

Opdahl said with a ticket, people can tour all five homes in any order they choose and at any time within the five-hour frame.

Coffee and cookies will be served out of a Red Cross emergency vehicle at the Ausen home.

Opdahl noted that one of the families actually came up with the idea for the tour and shared it with a Red Cross volunteer.

“(The Red Cross) did so much for all of us, we’d like to help them,” Opdahl said was the sentiment behind the idea.

“They were just phenomenal being out there,” Becky Ausen added. “The Red Cross and the Salvation Army, they were out there everyday, sometimes two and three times a day even.”

Looking back over the last year and two months, Ausen said she and her family have come a long way in rebuilding their lives, though there are still many things that need to be done.

“Everybody is so thankful that we didn’t get hurt, we are alive,” she said. “It was just things that we lost. Those things can be replaced.”

For additional information, contact Opdahl at 373-4544.