A Community Responds With Compassion and Caring

In a matter of seconds, the landscape of the 154-year-old William Jewell College campus was altered by the 150-mile-an-hour winds of a fast-moving funnel cloud on the evening of May 4, 2003. Damage estimates to College structures and facilities from the tornado strike have been estimated at $8 million.Thanks to advance warning and established emergency response procedures, no injuries were sustained by students, faculty or staff.

More than $50,000 in general merchandise purchasing cards, rent subsidies, utility subsidies and furniture purchasing credits has been distributed to displaced residents of the Regent’s Quad married student housing complex, according to Vice President for Religious Ministries Andy Pratt, whose office coordinated relief efforts. Regent’s Quad was among the hardest hit areas of the Jewell campus.The three-building complex has been demolished, and designs for a new complex are in the preliminary phase. Most of the residents were relocated to a Liberty apartment complex following the storm.Melrose Hall, the women’s
residence hall that was also extensively damaged in the storm, is undergoing a complete renovation and will remain closed throughout the 2003-04 school year.

“As we move forward,we are doing so with a vision that embraces not the needs of the past, but rather a vision that can meet the expectations and requirements of the 21st century,” Dr.Sallee said.“Our obligation is to ensure that the buildings and equipment damaged or destroyed by the tornado will be replaced with state-of-the-art facilities that will attract and serve well our future students and faculty.”Rick Winslow, dean of student affairs, said that all single rooms on the campus would be doubles for the current school year. All housing requests for the fall semester were fulfilled, and he was confident that all requests for on-campus housing for 2003-04 could be accommodated.

“We want to express our deepest appreciation to those who have communicated their concern and expressed their generosity,” Dr. Sallee said. “We could not have accomplished what we have without the dedication, concern and commitment of the extended Jewell community.”

Some selected “snapshots” of the community’s response to the storm:

• More than $130,000 in donations was received in the College’s advancement office
• A benefit auction held by Crowley Furniture in Liberty raised $48,000 to assist storm victims
• The Liberty Lions Club contributed over $9,000 in Wal-Mart merchandise cards
• Verizon Wireless contributed $10,000
• More than $20,000 was raised by 16 area churches
• Representatives of several area colleges contacted Jewell, some sending money and others sending volunteers to assist in the cleanup efforts
• Kansas City radio station 96.5 scheduled a benefit concert to assist Jewell students