‘Pitching in’: Andover homeowners thankful for volunteers who came for tornado cleanup

Piles of debris outside of homes leveled by Friday’s tornado in Andover grew and grew throughout the day Tuesday as hundreds of volunteers fanned out across the battered community to pitch in.

Tuesday was the first day volunteers were officially allowed into the community.

Officials held off on welcoming volunteers for a couple of days, while crews worked to cut power to downed lines and disaster responders assessed the need. People were eager to help.

On Tuesday morning, nearly 500 people waited in line for more than an hour at Andover United Methodist Church to sign a liability form, get a yellow badge and their assignment. Some had driven more than two hours to get there.

Dozens of volunteers ended up in a neighborhood that took a direct hit from the tornado southeast of Highway 54 and Andover Road. The tornado then crossed a parking lot, where it battered the Prairie Creek Elementary School and then struck the Dr. Jim Farha Andover YMCA head-on.

Rebecca Ellison, a 20-year-old airman who works as a dental assistant at McConnell Air Force Base, was working with about 15 others to remove large debris and set aside personal items at a home that had been destroyed at Hedgewood and Minneha. A McConnell spokesperson said they had roughly 150 volunteers on Tuesday.

The home next door also had been destroyed, as had several homes in a row across the street.

“I just feel bad for all the families,” Ellison said. “I am just a sentimental person where I hold on to memories through objects. They don’t really have that option now. Everything is gone.”

When Ellison and her group first arrived in the neighborhood, they helped out at the home of David Ferricher, who works as a technical sergeant at the base.

Ellison teared up as she described cleaning up Ferricher’s basement, where his son’s bedroom was and where the family took shelter as the tornado hit.

“It was a lot to take in,” Ellison said.

Ferricher’s home has a hole in the roof. The basement was covered with glass and flooded from when an outside spigot snapped during the tornado. Windows around the home were shattered. The damage didn’t look nearly as bad as some of his neighbors’, but an inspector slapped a piece of paper on an intact front window that said the home was uninhabitable.

He said the support of people, including volunteers, has been overwhelming.

“I could definitely see the community really helping out and pitching in,” he said. “It makes me feel warm inside, especially when something like this happens. It’s almost overwhelming the amount of support.”

A group of managers from area Walmarts was just down the street helping clean out debris in the backyards of a few homes.

“Words don’t describe. It’s hard to believe … I just never have seen it before in my life,” said Aaron Rohr, store manager at Newton Walmart.

Just days before there had been a car just feet from where Rohr and his peers were cleaning. The tornado threw Audree and Dylan Weers’ car through the garage and two rooms of their home and into the backyard.

“Like a wrecking ball,” Dylan said, adding the car was crushed.

Their home was destroyed but looked much further along in the clean-up process than their neighbors.

“It’s overwhelming for sure that everyone is willing to help out,” Audree said.

A street over from the Weers, Epic Church had a tent set up with water, snacks, sunscreen and plastic totes for people to put their belongings in. Across the street from there, a Farm Bureau adjuster was climbing a ladder at a home with roof damage.

The Weers had signed up for help, but not everyone has, according to the Rev. Hollie Tapley, the disaster response coordinator for Great Plains United Methodist Conference.

Tapley said they sent groups of roughly 10 volunteers to the 33 homes where people had signed up to have help with cleanup. Others were sent to Andover Central Park.

At the church, Tapley embraced another woman who had signed up for help from a cleanup crew, making it 34.

But there are definitely more people in need.

At least 300 to 400 homes and buildings were destroyed and others were damaged, officials said. More than 1,000 buildings were in the tornado’s path.

Tapley said people can go to the Andover Community Center during business hours to sign up to have volunteers help. She said some people have to wait until an insurance adjuster takes a look at the damage before they can move anything.

Tapley said volunteers won’t be going out Wednesday if it rains, which is in the forecast. Volunteers will still be needed in the future.

Tapley said she’s happy with Tuesday’s volunteer turnout.

“This is phenomenal to see people respond and to come to want to help people they don’t know,” she said. “People came from all over to help this community.”

This story was originally published May 3, 2022 at 2:56 PM.