Volunteers still driven to help in Noah search despite being on standby

PINSON, Tenn. — Despite only law enforcement leading searches for missing toddler Noah Chamberlin, volunteers said they feel driven to help.

It doesn’t take long when driving south of Jackson city limits to find signs showing support for Noah. Search and rescue teams have worked around the clock since the 2-year-old was first reported missing five days ago.

Some said it’s the volunteers who have kept the search going non-stop.

“At dusk when they leave to go recharge their batteries, we pull in the volunteers so we’ve got this thing going 24/7 around the clock,” said Tom Mapes, public information officer for the Madison County Sheriff’s Office.

Searching the woods isn’t the only way volunteers are coming out. On Tuesday morning, we caught up with James Holt, a volunteer from Alabama, as he grabbed a quick breakfast at Zippy’s convenience store.

“When it was coming up on day six and he wasn’t found, it was time for me to do whatever little bit I could do to help,” Holt said.

Holt said despite volunteers being put on the sidelines for much of the search this week, he plans to stick around as long as he’s needed.

Zippy’s is about two miles from the wooded search area. Deli manager Jackie Singleton is a non-traditional volunteer in the search for Chamberlin.

“I plan on helping everybody I can out,” she said.

On Tuesday, Singleton paid for volunteers’ and some first responders’ breakfasts out of her own pocket. “Because I appreciate everything they’re doing,” Singleton said. “I can’t be out there, but I can surely help another way.”

With volunteer seacrhers in standby mode, the motivating factors are across the board. “I’d like to be the one that could bring closure to the family,” Billy Ray Jones said.

Jones said he couldn’t search the multiple acres by foot but he did get out and drive several streets in Pinson as well as search his garage and crawlspaces.

Volunteer after volunteer said there’s really only one reason they continue to search day after day — Noah Chamberlin.