On Sunday, the community came together once again to help search for Jacob Samusenko, the 17-year-old who has been missing for nearly three weeks.
"Everybody sees that this is something that is meaningful to everybody," said search co-organizer Ron Thornton. "It is a community effort, and an official effort. We're doing our best to get him home and hopefully safely and find some good results."
People took to the streets with flyers and maps, covering more ground and areas they weren't able to reach on Tuesday.
The Erie County Sheriff's Mounted Posse was also back again to help lead the search through wooded areas.
"You look for any sign of anything at all," said Garth Freelend, Captain of the Erie County Sheriff's Mounted Posse. "It might be in a trash can, or a dumpster. Anything that would actually help find an article of clothing or anything. That's what we're looking for."
Organizers and volunteers say it is nice to see the community coming together, but they believe it shouldn't take a tragedy to do so.
"It is very positive that they're doing this, but at the same time, it is a shameful thing that it takes such a tragedy like this for us to come together," said Thornton. "We should be doing this on a positive note."
As a result of the community support, search co-organizer Adrian Ewing said he will be putting together a volunteer-based rapid response team, for situations like this one, if they happen again in the future.
"We look forward to the community involvement in that," said Ewing. "We'll set up a Facebook page, and some other things around that, even do fundraising for people to take professional training in search and rescue."
Ewing said that the silver lining of Sunday's search is that it shows people in Erie, really do care about one another.
Again, anyone with information is asked to call Erie Police at (814) 870-1120 or (814) 870-1158.
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