On opposite sides of downtown Atlanta on Saturday, homeowners and volunteers, some from other states, used chain saws, brooms and their own sweat to restore neighborhoods crushed by last weekend's tornadoes.

In Cabbagetown, an eclectic neighborhood east of downtown, hundreds of volunteers queued up for their assignments.

In Vine City, where many of the residents are low-income, dozens of yellow-shirted volunteers from various congregations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were waiting when the Rev. Dexter Johnson got to the meeting place for the day's work.

"They're like little ants," Johnson said as he watched volunteers quickly reduce two large uprooted oak trees to manageable size across the street from the Mount Gilead Baptist Church, which lost portions of its roof and was flooded in the storm.

City workers were removing the chopped-up tree trunks and debris almost as quickly as volunteers put it beside the street.

"One of our goals is to work with the community and to serve the community," said Hee Jin Cho, who brought her friends from the Asian Christian Fellowship at Georgia Tech. That is how she and four friends used their spring break.

And it's how a dozen students from Tulane University in New Orleans used theirs, working in Cabbagetown to help clear debris.

"It's been amazing," said Jacquesse Williams, who planned to return to Louisiana after the work was done Saturday.

Henry Kekoolani, 17, and Christopher Taylor, 16, from a Walton County Mormon group, used a claw hammer to methodically hack away weighty red clay that clung to the roots of a tree in Vine City.

Nearby, volunteers from several churches laid out food for the 100 to 150 volunteers, some of whom came from as far away as Savannah and Dublin. About twice that many workers were in Cabbagetown.

Three men from the Hebron Baptist Church in Dacula were at the Berean Avenue house of Shirley Perry, where the roof was damaged and the front porch was destroyed.

"We concentrate on mainly ... people who don't have insurance," the Rev. Ron Brent said.

Volunteers and employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency walked the two neighborhoods, distributing information on how to apply for federal assistance to make repairs that insurance does not cover.

Johnson said many qualify only for FEMA loans instead of grants. Shaking his head, Johnson observes "a disaster comes through and puts you in debt."

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Tabernacle eyes a May reopening

The Tabernacle, the 98-year-old downtown church-turned-concert venue, is looking at a May reopening after being damaged in the tornado.

Peter Conlon of Live Nation, which operates the Tabernacle, said Friday that the building is structurally sound. The concert hall underwent inspections and tests this week.

Among parts of the building that will have to be replaced are some of the stained-glass windows, which blew out in the tornado. They'll get new ones, Conlon said.

"We want it to be as nice, if not nicer, when we reopen it," he said.

ING races still on; expo to the Dome

The ING Georgia Marathon and Half Marathon will go on as planned March 30, despite concerns that they could be canceled after the March 14 tornado. Event organizers say the Health and Fitness Expo, 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, will be moved to the Georgia Dome because of weather-related damage at the Georgia World Congress Center. All participating athletes must visit the Expo to pick up their race packets.

—-Staff, wire reports