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June 3, 2008
By Donna Walker
DR769-08
Three walls remained of Charles Klinkenborg’s home
following the tornado that crossed Iowa on Memorial Day
weekend 2008.
All of his belongings – house, car, clothes – went with
the wind. Following the storm, he said, what he and
others needed most were food and clothes.
“As you go out and about in the days following this
disaster, without people there to feed and clothe you,
you’d be lost,” Charlie said. “That’s what you would be
doing, trying to find food and clothes. Without the Red
Cross, that would be almost impossible.”
Those essentials were not the first thing on Charlie’s
mind, though, when he emerged from the basement of what
had been his home.
“It felt like you were walking on a different planet. At
first, there was dead silence except for the hissing of
the broken gas mains. Then, I heard a police officer
say, ‘I need help over here,’ and then a lady screamed,
‘Get my baby.’”
Charlie helped pull a 2-year-old out of the hole, who
was not even crying, he said. He continued to help,
going from foundation to foundation, checking on
friends, and digging people out. Soon, others came to
help.
“There were roving gangs of young guys moving from house
to house,” he said. “The south one-third of the town was
destroyed but the other two-thirds were relatively
undamaged. So when they saw what happened, they came.”
Days later, as Charlie sat in his office wearing jeans
and a t-shirt his cousin’s wife picked up at a local
distribution site, he said he’s touched by the
outpouring of help from organizations like the Red
Cross.
“I don’t need assistance, but there’s a lot of people
out there who do. That takes a load off your mind.
That’s something that I would do but I can’t now,” he
said.
For him personally, his co-workers at Title Services
Corporation in Waterloo took up a collection.
“I had to turn it down,” he said. “I am physically and
financially fine but I was touched by the fact that
people would join together. They decided to donate it to
the Red Cross.”
The company donated $900 to Red Cross via a local
Cumulus Media fundraising event that took place in
Waverly, Iowa, a week following the tornado’s touchdown.
“It didn’t take long – about 20 seconds to go over,”
Charlie said about the twister. “Then it was bright and
sunny.”
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Donna Walker is a volunteer with the Iowa Rivers
Chapter of the American Red Cross, Marshalltown, Iowa.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE
RED CROSS RESPONSE TO THIS DISASTER-click here
STORIES FROM THE FIELD:
RED CROSS HELP COMES "IN EVERY
WAY, SHAPE, AND FORM"-click here
RESTING IN THE RED CROSS
KITCHEN-click here
WATERLOO ISLAMIC CENTER
SUPPORTS LOCAL RED CROSS EFFORTS-click here
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