Hesston Public Library

Digital Special Collections

Coping Well with the Tornado -- Hesston Community Child Care Center
Collection: Tornado Stories

Title

Coping Well with the Tornado -- Hesston Community Child Care Center

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Subject

Tornadoes--Hesston (Kan.)

Description

Account by Eva Osborne, after interviewing HCCC Director, Judy Friesen.

Creator

Friesen, Judy

Publisher

Hesston Public Library

Date

unknown

Format

application/pdf

Language

English

Type

Narratives

Identifier

TornadoStories_HCCC.pdf


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Citation
Friesen, Judy, “Coping Well with the Tornado -- Hesston Community Child Care Center,” Hesston Public Library, accessed March 28, 2024, https://hesston.digitalsckls.info/item/117.
Text

COPING WELL WITH THE TORNADO -HESSTON COMMUNITY CHILD CARE CENTER
Something about the atmosphere the morning of March 13, 1990, prompted Judy Friesen, director of Hesston Community Child Care Center, 224 N. Weaver, Hesston, Ks., to conduct a tornado drill with the children, a drill they had not done yet this spring. This involved first explaining to the children the reason for the drills, the locations of the two safest places in the building, the way to get there quickly, and what to do while waiting. Quickly and calmly this procedure was then practiced.
During the day Dee Hershberger, contact person for the center, kept Judy informed about threatening weather conditions. Meanwhile Child Care personnel supplied the two places of refuge with rug mats to sit on, books, stuffed toys, and flashlights. One of the designated places was under the stairs in the southeast corner of the basement; the other was in the northeast corner of the basement between the freezers. Except for the morning’s practice drill and teachers keeping attuned to weather conditions the day continued as usual-until around five o’clock.
When the first siren gave warning, there were still seven or eight children at the center with Wilma Holmes and Judy as well as a couple of parents. All found shelter just as they had practiced. After a while as everything remained quiet, they came out of the shelters and the parents left with their children.
The second siren was clearly much more ominous-take cover and wait. The remaining children and adults were all in one place under the stairs. A radio tuned very softly to KFDI kept the teachers aware of the danger and direction of the tornado. Huddled under the stairs, stories were read to the children, stuffed animals were cuddled, songs were sung-even "Jingle Bells" of a child’s choosing. All was calm even as the children huddled still farther into the corner, as the approaching storm was becoming a reality. First evident was the sound of it. Then much more impressive was the feel of it—the vacuum and the pressure-the in and out feel-a very strange sensation. One child asked, "Is this what a tornado is?" Waiting until Mr. Holmes from across the street came looking for them, the group at 224 N. Weaver then knew they could safely leave their little nest.
The tornado had come and gone; all was well at HCCC. Time to celebrate with a party! Looking around for food, they made peanut butter sandwiches served with the usually forbidden pop and chips!-which is still something to tell the rest of the children.
Besides all the excitement from the tornado, the fire alarm in the building went off. Checking that there was no fire to cause the alarm, and turning it off, they decided it probably was due to the dust in the air from, the storm. More excitement, dealt with wisely.
Activities at the center were by no means over for the day. About nine o’clock a short wave radio group set up equipment in the basement, already providing a reaching out, connecting to the rest of the community. The last children went home about ten-thirty that night. Meanwhile Judy Friesen and other adults involved made more sandwiches to take to the city building where people were involved in making contacts outside and caring for other needs.
Hesston Community Child Care Center was back in business the next morning, but not quite like “business as usual." While the center was without electricity, someone from the center made hot soup in the kitchens of teachers living in Hesston who still had electricity. Soup and sandwiches were prepared, not only for the children, but also offered to those in the surrounding neighborhood who had experienced damage and loss, or with no gas or electricity to make hot food, to come to the center to eat. This offer of hospitality continued and expanded to include Judy’s parents who brought hot chili or borscht ready to serve. Hickory Homes at the south edge of town became involved when Milford Dreiers from there brought soup; a church in Newton sent baked goods; Red Cross sent supplies. This continued noon and evening through March 21, and was especially appreciated by neighbors round about-an assurance that life goes on.
For those involved in the center, this reaching out became therapeutic in their dealing with the trauma of the tornado. The "Community" name of the Child Care Center must certainly have taken on a deeper meaning with the Center responding to community needs as the entire town has met so many needs of the Day Care in the past.
And what of the needs of the children in working through their experience? Of course their talking about it, much talking with sensitive adult listeners. At the time of this writing two months later, there are still times when the children need to talk, especially on gray, cloudy days. The
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children also put their memories and feelings in their drawings. Games like Cops and Robbers have given way to created games about tornadoes, and playtime involves a basement. The children were taken down the street far enough to see what happened to homes and trees, returning a number of times to see what was happening in the clean up.
The children saw what had happened to many of the trees in King Memorial Park, a favorite place they go to play. As further therapy for the children they were encouraged to bring money to buy and plant a new tree. With their gift of $79.00 in hand the children went along to help choose a tree, but returned with two trees. Having hauled the trees from the center to the park in their wagons, they helped Mario Unruh, who had the ground prepared, to plant them. Now they will watch the trees grow with personal interest and ownership.
The March 13 morning tornado drill practice proved to be effective and well-learned, a lesson these children will be likely to remember always. That very afternoon one child who was already at home by 5:40 demonstrated this. His mother had quickly gone uptown for a few minutes when the siren blew. Frightened and in haste she returned home to find her young child in the basement, under the stairs, crouched down with his arms over his head, ready, all this on his own because he had listened well that morning!
This is a story about our Hesston Community Child Care Center during and after the tornado of March 13, a place that "belongs" to our community, a place where we can entrust our children for loving care and nurture.
Eva Osborne, after interviewing Judy Friesen
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Original Format

typed document