Gathering Love in Greenfield: Tzu Chi USA’s Midwestern Tornado Relief
Written by Adriana DiBenedetto
Published #74 | Fall 2024 Issue
After a twister careens through the town of Greenfield, Iowa, Tzu Chi USA’s Midwest Region volunteers hold a disaster relief distribution that eases hearts and strengthens the resolve of affected locals. Photo/Tony Cheng
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“So, right in this area,” Adair and Guthrie County’s Emergency Management Coordinator, Jeremy Cooper, gestured to an empty expanse, “there were probably about twenty homes. I’d never seen anything like it. It was scary. It was a multi-vortex tornado. At one point in time, outside of town here, it was a half-mile wide.”
From May 19–27, 2024, the U.S. Midwest was struck by devastating storms – the National Weather Service confirming 875 tornadoes as of May 28. Among these, one of the strongest and most destructive weather events was a powerful twister that formed in southwestern Iowa on May 21, 2024, and drew a line of destruction for nearly 44 miles, crashing through the town of Greenfield, Iowa.
“You’ll see that big houses up over here are damaged, and you’ll see coming out across there’s houses still standing, but they’re all damaged on the peripheral edge of it. You’ll see that damage on the outside edge of it, and you can see the clear path. So it took less than one minute to come through this type of town, and it was about just over a mile stretch through town,” Emergency Management Coordinator Cooper explained to the assembled Tzu Chi volunteers. “Initially, it’s 157 homes, but that number keeps rising as homes are having to be destroyed.”
Reaching its peak intensity in Greenfield, Iowa, the tornado was assigned a rating of mid-range EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, with maximum wind speeds estimated at 185 miles (300 kilometers) per hour, becoming the fourth violent tornado of the 2024 season and the second during the month of May. The deadly twister destroyed homes, downed power lines, snapped trees, and shredded roofs.
“It was just unreal, the number of people that were actually sucked right out of their basements and tossed about,” Cooper shared. “I mean, there were just so many of them. In fact, there is an older couple, a husband and wife, who died. They were right next to each other. But they were sucked out of their basement and tossed probably a city block away. But they were lying there together.” Five fatalities were confirmed due to the large, violent, EF4 tornado that moved through Greenfield, Iowa, and injured dozens more.
My wife called me and said that we got hit, and initially, she didn’t think it was too bad. We didn’t have any damage. She called me back a couple of minutes later and said the house across the street was gone, and then another house was gone, and just everything.
After a significant early spring tornado outbreak occurred in the U.S. Midwest on March 13–15, 2024, with more than two dozen tornadoes reported, Tzu Chi USA’s Midwest Region volunteers in Indianapolis had immediately contacted the local chapter of the American Red Cross (ARC), launching a series of disaster relief efforts. The Tzu Chi volunteer team conducted home visits alongside the ARC to better understand residents’ situations and ascertain their most urgent needs. Then, on April 6, the Tzu Chi Indianapolis Service Center and Tzu Chi Dayton Service Center teamed up to hold a disaster relief distribution in Winchester, Indiana. Just a few months later, Tzu Chi USA’s Midwest Region volunteers would spring to action again.
On July 28, 2024, a team of 24 Tzu Chi volunteers from Chicago traveled to Greenfield, Iowa, to carry out crucial tornado relief efforts.
We have some people that were still boarded up and waiting to hear from their insurance company. So everybody’s at different stages of this. But there were tons of homes all the way back through here, and they’re just completely gone and leveled.
“Today, we are giving out either $800 or $1,000 debit cards to people whose homes were majorly destroyed or severely damaged by the tornado from the end of May,” shared one Tzu Chi volunteer at the relief distribution inside Greenfield City Hall. Cash cards like these are loaded with the love of people from all across the globe, and that heartfelt message struck deep. As care recipients gathered outside the venue, Tzu Chi’s green and white flags fluttering in the breeze, volunteers shared the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation’s origins, and how the steadfast compassion of 30 housewives helped launch charity missions that continue to unfold across decades and around the world. Coming face to face with tragedy over a half-century ago, Tzu Chi’s founder, Dharma Master Cheng Yen, knew she had to act. Joined by 30 female followers, the women set aside funds, putting small change into a bamboo tube each day before purchasing any food for themselves whilst crafting baby shoes to sell. The Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation’s footprint of charity and humanitarianism now spans far and wide. To this day, Tzu Chi continues to use a symbolic iteration of these bamboo tubes – the Foundation’s signature bamboo banks – as an everlasting reminder. Inside the venue, a series of videos were also shown, introducing Tzu Chi’s missions, its humanistic philosophy, and more.
It’s really quite humbling to have this kind of response for us, you guys being strangers and stuff, but it is real. It is really welcoming. So, it’s wonderful. It’s wonderful to have that outreach, really. It truly is.
“I feel a great relief,” said Kim Ehrsam, Certified Senior Health Insurance Information Program Counselor for the Adair County Health System. “The money that was donated or given to us to help with things will greatly go into play with our rebuild, and replacing the things that we’ve lost. I felt very comfortable. I felt like I was an important person and that everybody cared about the reason that we’re here and the people that were here. Thank you so much for what you do. Sometimes you don’t feel like you are appreciated at the moment, but we greatly appreciate all the help that you’ve given us.”
Volunteers also brought gifts for the children at the event, along with eco-friendly blankets, scarves, Jing Si aphorisms, and a blessing charm that signifies peace, safety, and hope for each affected household. Additionally, a selection of socks, Tzu Chi publications, and other items were available to choose from.
“I love how you guys are so organized and work together, and you bring such a positive presence. It’s hard to explain,” said Greenfield Chamber/Main Street’s Executive Director, Stacie Eshelman. “But I think our people really need that, you know? If nothing else, just being in your presence, I think, will make people feel just a little bit better about everything that they’ve been through.”
Sometimes, from the Midwest, we like to believe that we don’t need help. But we’ve never suffered something like this before. So I appreciate you coming out, and we’re going to do every little thing we can to try to make things better, and we’ll all get through this together.
Many locals impacted by the disaster had been staying temporarily with relatives or at a hotel, their lives and sense of normalcy turned upside down. When the volunteer team arrived, they did so with more than cash relief and supplies in hand, but with the comforting presence of someone who cares deeply.
When such upheavals occur, they can take their toll as well as time to recover, emotionally and financially. That’s why it’s so important to join hands as one family to bring relief. Love saves, but we must put it into concrete action.
The team of 24 volunteers from Tzu Chi USA’s Midwest Region Office in the Chicago area had made the six-hour drive to the venue the day prior, and after the event came to a conclusion and all was packed away, they would make the drive again that evening – most volunteers needing to return to work or school on Monday. In addition to more seasoned volunteers, this group also encompassed young, college-aged volunteers who wished to join in and help.
“The tornado can destroy our house, but it can’t destroy our spirit, right? We are still strong, right? We wish you all a speedy recovery,” rallied Tzu Chi USA’s Midwest Region Executive Director Chong Hsieh. And indeed, several smiles were seen as volunteers spoke one-on-one with locals at the distribution, listening intently as the survivors shared their experiences and offering hugs and encouragement as they parted.
After disasters, it can be a long road to recovery, but as Iowans persevere with strength and determination, survivors know their Tzu Chi family is here for them.
May the love in each of us converge into a vast ocean of hope, which can then be given to everyone in the world without end.
