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
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Love those cabinet shelves! They look like a great space saver. I’ll have to look into those.
You have so many great solutions!! I’m RUNNING to Bed Bath and Beyond for the plastic bag holder–ours are just free under the sink!!
Anne – it really is great and not to $$ either!
I’m pretty sure you’ve talked about them before but can you please tell us where you got those neat spice bottles for your sugars? I LOVE them!!!
Shadow – They are part of Pottery Barn’s Daily System. The post coming tomorrow will actually go through how we made the shelf and include a link to the spice jars themselves.
the spice jars are so cool!! Can’t wait to see more about them 🙂 I love how vibrant all the colors are!
Great organizing! I’m always trying to figure out how I’m going to fit all my stuff in my kitchen. Thanks for the tips! BTW love those spice jars…so cute!
I’ll add my admiration of the spice jars as well – what a great way to keep them dry and organized while adding color to your kitchen!
Thanks for the info about the spice jars! They’re actually $10 off right now too, so you get 15 jars for $19!!!
…I might have bought two sets… 🙂
Can’t wait to see how you guys set up your shelf.
Great ideas! I also love the plastic bag holder among other items. Looking forward to the post on the spice containers.
Hopefully Hubby doesn’t hear the price went down so much. He about had a heart attack when I told him I was spending $120 on spice jars!
How is the towel made so it can hung by a loop?
I love love loooove what you’ve done with your kitchen. It’s so functional and looks fantastic. I’m definitely stealing some of your ideas and incorporating them into my kitchen. Thanks!
jenshowme – this is the paper towel holder. It’s a bar that gets attached on one side and has an arm sticking out that the paper towel goes onto.
Use tiered cosmetic cases!
They’re absolutely great. You can compartmentalize your things easily everything stays together. =)
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