A College Calming Chaos

EAST PEORIA — Three weeks after tornadoes paved a destructive path through neighboring communities, Illinois Central College has been continuing to do it’s part to ease the pain of the victims hurt by this storm.

Within hours after the Nov. 17 tornadoes, WoodView Commons at the East Peoria Campus both the college and human resources office began taking in those displaced by the twister. While this was actually initiated by Campus Living Villages, the independent manager of WoodView, it did get the community spirit kick- started here at ICC.

In the days following the storm, the college’s administrators spent their time in and out of meetings to make plans on how to help the community get through this trying time. By the time 48 hours had passed, ICC had a compiled list of tornado relief resources – many of which were created in-house – on its website.

One of these in-house resources was an on- campus collection of material goods to give to those in need, especially affected ICC students or staff. The human resources office in Academic Building room 339G served as the collection point, and after a week, staff claimed that they had a partial room filled with collected supplies.

ICC President Dr. John Erwin released a video statement on the 19th, where he discussed the “immeasurable” losses that the community was facing and offered words of support,
“To those who have been victims of the tornado,” said Erwin, “please know that your ICC family will be here to support you in any way we can in the coming weeks and months, and know that our thoughts, and indeed our prayer, are with each one of you.”

Immediately after Erwin’s statement, a message of support came to ICC from it’s sister college, Xiamen Huaxia College, more than 6000 miles away in China.

“Hearing that the tornado has attacked East Peoria, Pekin and Washington, on behalf of President Wang Xiaoru and the staff from Xiamen Huaxia College, we send this letter to express our sincere relief and condolences to all the victims involved.”

The CougarPlex began functioning as a base of operations for the disaster relief group Americorps St. Louis on Nov. 21. According to William Burks, Americorps field team leader,

they were able to come and organize at the CougarPlex quickly and efficiently because ICC already had a relationship with Illinois emergency agencies. Once here, they became the official coordinator for debris clean-up volunteers for Tazewell County.

“We are doing more than just moving debris – a bulldozer could come in and do that faster than our volunteers could,” said Burks. “We are bringing financial aid to these communities that will help them in the long term.”

On Nov. 22 the college’s marketing department worked with the Washington Police Department to give a small group of ICC students the opportunity to help distribute emergency information to residents in the hardest- hit areas of Washington.

As college outreach has continued, ICC has kept track of the number of students and staff members who have been severely affected by the tornado. At last count, there were about 40 students and 20 staff members and they continue to receive assistance from the college and, of course, the community.

One of these students, Jennifer Hirsch, was able to get temporary lodging arrangements at WoodView after she lost her apartment in the Washington twister.

“I ran for the bathtub, and as soon as I got in there – well, the power went out as I was running towards it – I could just hear everything being torn apart,” said Hirsch. “ You could hear breaking and twisting and creaking… It just sounded like destruction.”

She said that since then, she has received a lot of help from everyone.
“I have never seen such kindness and outpouring of a community,” said Hirsch. “The people have been amazing, and I seriously want to be a Red Cross volunteer now.”