Iowa boy makes baseball bats out of wood brought down by storm, raising money for community

Tommy Rhomberg wanted to do something nice for a friend, and this act of kindness ended up benefiting his entire community.

The 12-year-old lives in Iowa, which was hit hard in August by a derecho. The storm had winds of up to 140 mph, destroying homes and bringing down trees. To cheer up a friend whose birthday took place amid the derecho, Rhomberg decided to take a tree branch that came down on his lawn and whittle it into a baseball bat to give to his pal.

It took 10 hours to create the bat, which Rhomberg named The Great Derecho. His mom asked him if he would make her a bat, and that's when an idea took shape: Rhomberg would make bats and donate the money earned to help people who needed to rebuild after the derecho. Using wood that came down during the storm, Rhomberg has so far made about 115 bats, raising more than $2,500.

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Rhomberg works on his project when he's finished with his homework, and told CBS News he feels like "it's really helping people." Catherine Garcia