NEWNAN, Ga. — The community of Newnan has been rebuilding for a year, cleaning up and clearing out the damage from a tornado.
But one local woman didn't want to get rid of everything that was damaged. She wanted to save some of that destruction and make it beautiful.
Sarah Poe went to town as soon as the sun came up last year.
"The next morning, my whole family was out doing whatever we could, picking up limbs, handing out water bottles, and I just felt like it wasn't enough. I couldn't sleep at night, I looked at my husband, like, 'This isn't enough. I've got to do something else,'" she said.
Part of what drew her family to the town was the tree canopy that covered it. Those humongous trees have grown in Newnan for hundreds of years.
"When I saw the destruction of those trees, it just hurt, and I knew I wasn't the only one hurting over that," Poe said.
As she helped with the clean-up, she found herself reaching for those branches.
"I had to salvage whatever I could of those trees, but I didn't know where to start," she said.
Poe started telling people about her idea to save the trees. At first, she didn't know what they would be.
"We went out and tagged specific trees for this project, so these are historic trees that were destroyed," she said.
She knew she wanted it to stay in the community once she felt the wood in her hands, building something out of the branches that would be meaningful to the people who live there.
"To make something that Newnan can look back on and have forever," she said.
They decided to construct community benches out of those trees. it would be a place where people could come sit and be together.
"I didn't want to just buy a bench you could buy from Home Depot, or Lowes. I wanted to make something that was unique and special," she said.
It took a year to turn that fallen wood in to five custom benches for the community.
"This turned into so much more than just building a bench or saving a tree, this turned in to something beautiful from something so devastating," she said.
The benches will be dedicated to the town over the weekend.