Shocked by the tornado devastation in Oklahoma, Darci Dreher, the nursing supervisor at Whitestar Home Health Agency in Danville, planned to take a car full of supplies down on Friday to help.
An EF5 tornado roared through Moore, OK on May 20 destroying 4,000 homes and business, killing 27 people.
Dreher knew another Covington resident who used to live in Oklahoma. He called Fresh Start Church in Moore, Oklahoma to get a list of needs within the community.
After a whirlwind of support throughout Central Illinois, Dreher, along with 1 physician’s assistant, 2 nurses and 3 certified nursing assistants will take a semi-full of supplies to Oklahoma on Friday.
“We thought we would just get a couple boxes,” Dreher said. “Then the phone was ringing and people were bringing in donations non-stop, so we decided to get a semi to take the stuff down.”
Dreher’s brother donated his semi-truck.
Mahomet resident Tabitha Berg, who is friends with Dreher, offered to get a few friends in Mahomet together to donate items to Oklahoma, too. She planned to store donated items in her garage.
But like Dreher, Berg was quickly overwhelmed by the response in the Mahomet community.
“The generosity of the Mahomet community has made this so much bigger than I expected it to be.” Berg said.
Berg approached IGA owner Brooks Marsh to see if IGA could be a donation drop-off location. When a truck could not make it to IGA in time, she approached Jeff Ross at American Legend Motorspots on Prairieview Road about renting a U-Haul.
Ross offered his business as a drop-off location and for storage during a donation drop-ff event that took place on Tuesday night. Marsh then suggested that IGA distribute fliers telling patrons where to donate.
Mahomet resident Heather Wanniger created the “OKC Relief-FILL THE TRUCK UP Mahomet donation drop off” Facebook page that helped word spread about the donation event through the Mahomet community.
Berg was surprised that by the time she called community member and businesses within the Mahomet community to let them know about the event, they already knew.
“When I moved to Mahomet, everyone was so nice and amazing from the get-go,” Berg said. “Mahomet has the most tender hearts of any other community I’ve lived in before. To get something like that started in just four day is amazing.”
The American Legend Motorsports garage was filled Tuesday night with bottled water donations, non-perishable foods, toiletries, clothes and one donor gave a barely used twin-sized bed.
The Mahomet Diamond Dog and Mahomet Maverick organizations sent players out to collect donations from cars.
“One of the best things about being a parent is that you get to teach your kids how to love on others and how to give to those who can’t pay you back,” Berg said.
Dreher collected part of the Mahomet donation on Wednesday, then came back for more Thursday morning. The semi will leave from Danville Friday night.
Dreher’s team plans to help in Moore through Sunday before returning home.
