Donations for Washington, IL

I am updating the bottom of this post as I learn about new ways to donate to the relief effort. Scroll down for the latest information

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you know that my mom’s house was leveled by the tornado that hit Washington, IL yesterday.

My mom’s front yard and door

My younger brother Andrew was in the house when it happened. He was sleeping on the couch when he woke up all of a sudden. He looked out the window to see a tree flying through the air towards him and ran to the top of the stairs. To his right, the kitchen walls were sucked away. He dove for the bathroom and curled up in a ball on the floor. When he opened his eyes, there was a blue sky above him and the toilet, tub, and bathroom walls around him were all gone. He was able to walk away and after a short visit to the hospital, he went home with only 8 stitches, quite a few scratches, and lot of bruises. It’s amazing that he’s alive.

Our motto about this tragedy has been “Things are replaceable. People are not.” We’re very lucky that he was relatively unharmed and all that we lost were things. My mom’s entire neighborhood is basically leveled. If you’ve seen the national news coverage, most of it has been filmed in her neighborhood. Update: Over the past two days, we were able to salvage some items from the house. The basement was still in decent shape, however a water main broke during the tornado, so the basement flooded. Luckily some family photos were in plastic containers and did not get damaged.

The street leading up to my mom’s house

I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for the kind words through your texts, tweets, emails, and other messages. And for those of you who have been asking what you can do, there are a few options.

• The Washington Tornado Relief Fund has been set up to help victims. Checks can be mailed to Washington Tornado Relief Fund, 721 West Jackson St, Morton, IL 61550
• United Way has set up a Heart of Illinois Tornado Relief Fund. Information and donation links can be found here.
• You can donate to the Red Cross of central Illinois. Here is a link to their online donation site. To donate by mail, you will need this form. You can specify that you would like your funds to go to the Central Illinois chapter to ensure that the money is used in these areas.
• The Peoria Chiefs are doing an online auction with all the proceeds going to help the tornado recovery efforts. The auction will have autographed baseballs from Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Greg Maddux and David Freese along with an autographed Ryne Sandberg Hall of Fame program.
• You can purchase a Washington Tornado Relief t-shirt. All proceeds will go to families who have lost their home.
• Heroes Memorial Foundation is accepting online donations for first responders, military (active and veterans) and their families who were affected by the tornado.

Thanks for everyone’s thoughts, good vibes, and support. It’s very much appreciated. You can follow along on twitter with #WashingtonIL or on Instagram