It's tornado season here in the Midwest and as you may have heard, disaster struck our town on March 10, 2026 as an EF-3 tornado tore through entire blocks of houses. My best friend and her fiancé saw the twister take shape just one mile from their back porch window and her future-sister-in-law was interviewed here about surviving a direct hit if you can believe it! Another neighbor survived under a mini fridge as detailed in this video and there's even drone footage of our town immediately after. In the days since one thing has become abundantly clear: when disaster strikes, all the helpers show up.
Here at the lab we are continuing to commit our time and resources to local relief efforts and we are donating all proceeds from our spring Begin Again collection to the Kankakee School District 111 disaster relief organization that is providing free meals at the Lincoln Cultural Center three times a day. And we aren't the only local business lending a helping hand around here:
- Crème of the Crop Catering & Food Truck is hosting Tornado Relief Luncheons for directly affected families
- Huckleberry's Snack Shack is providing lunch for the humans and pet food and supplies for the fur babies. (And making secret drop offs to your elderly neighbors with too much pride to ask for help. We know them and we love them.)
- Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School District 307 Mrs. Kelly Katzmann and the Ecology Club sent out a group of students to cleanup and are partnering with Georgie's Closet to collect donations
- Kankakee School District 111 is providing all local families with hot meals three times a day and collecting donations from individuals and disaster relief organizations
- Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation Jerry and the team are working to rehab a turkey vulture that was pummeled with hail and found in an alley near Dawn and Merikay's houses who heroically drove the bird in the storm to the rescue team
- Josephine’s Bakeshop sent donuts for volunteers and first responders and worked with customers to collect donations to give directly along with gift cards to be given directly to the affected families
- Clifton Central Athletics Volleyball Team went to work delivering beds to impacted families so they don't have to sleep on the floor again tonight
- Stefari Coffee House hosted a tornado relief drive with The Majestic and donated coffee and lattes directly to volunteers at local high schools
- Essential Smoothies offered free community kids drop-off for two entire days providing meals and activities for all ages immediately following the disaster
Small businesses are truly the backbone of our communities and I'm proud to be a part of a neighborhood that cares about the people that live next door.
If you've ever survived a natural disaster, you know the needs for care do not end once the news cameras turn off and everyone goes home. Houses everywhere have boarded up broken windows and busted solar panels, including mine, and nearly every car on the block has busted out windshields and body damage from the softball sized hail hits. When disaster strikes, she hits hard.
If you are aware of a family we can support directly with candles, cleanup, care, or funds, please reach out. We are here to help.
And to our neighbors, we will see you outside.