WKU News

One month after deadly tornadoes tore through Bowling Green, an army of volunteers continues to help pick up the pieces. WKU is among them as WKU’s Amy Bingham explains in this week’s View from the Hill. 

“Long hours, starting early in the morning and sometimes ending the next day early in the morning.”

Trayson Lawler and Matthew Wisenden are among dozens of geoscience students who’ve been doing both physical and humanitarian work in the aftermath of the December 11 tornadoes.

“One of the first nights we were cleaning up we found like 200 old photos, and like newspaper clippings from the ‘40s and 30s, really really old stuff so we gathered all that and I actually managed to find the family on Facebook that it all belonged to and returned it to them.”

Geoscience Professor Jason Polk says the work provided a unique opportunity for them to help get groundwater systems back on line.  

“They got to see a lot of the work we do in action. A lot of things we monitor for, a lot of things we study as far as storms, flooding, heavy rains. That sort of thing.”

Volunteers at WKU’s Food Pantry jumped into action to help meet short-term and long-term needs of the those impacted.  

“We started doing that immediately on day one and we’ve been open every day since then including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day doing the same thing.”

And the WKU Restaurant Group partnered with local school districts to provide more than 4,000 meals to affected individuals. 

“We were able to reach out to our contacts and were able to provide some food and meals both through the Bowling Green Independent School system and also Warren County Public Schools.”

So many examples of team work, helping a community get back on its feet. 

“It’s been really impressive how quickly everyone mobilized.  I was amazed at how much help there was, people literally just walking around offering help.”

North says the need for food security will continue long after the debris is cleared away.  If you would like to contribute to the WKU Food Pantry, visit http://alumni.wku.edu/greenfund