All-day event acknowledging one-year since tornado set for Wednesday

An event will be held May 21 to recognize that it has been one year since a devastating tornado took approximately one minute to cross Greenfield. There has also been one year of community recovery that has allowed the town to get to where it is today.

Greenfield Chamber Main Street Executive Director Stacie Eshelman, chairperson of the Greenfield Tornado Recovery Team, said the theme of the day will revolve around the idea of “One.”

“We kept tossing around what we should call it because we didn’t really want to call it an anniversary or say it’s a celebration,” she said. “Since it has been one year since the tornado and the tornado went through town in about a minute, we decided to call it ‘One’.”

Daytime events

The event will include a breakfast 6:30-8 a.m. at St. John’s Catholic Church, lunch at Greenfield United Methodist Church and a 3:25 p.m. reflection and prayer service at The Gathering Place with bells ringing at 3:42 p.m., which is the time the tornado hit.

Resources available

Recovery resources will be available 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the courtyard, hosted by ISU Extension and Outreach and the IRS.

Rural Action Partnership events make resources accessible and available to any taxpaper, a release from Extension said.

Information will be available from the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, Iowa Legal Aid and the Iowa Insurance Division, Disaster Response Case Advocates, Childcare Resources and Referral, Iowa Workforce Development, Iowa Concern Hotline, Adair County Health System and Adair County Veterans Affairs. Crisis counselors will be on hand from Project Recovery Iowa, Zion Integrated Behavioral Health Services and Crossroads Behavioral Health Services.

In addition, personal finance consultation will be available.

There will be hourly speakers on topics such as mental health, finance and insurance/legal issues.

Activities will be available throughout the day for children.

“We hope that you will be able to join us that day for what promises to be truly helpful and resource-filled event,” ISU Extension and Outreach Regional Director Kerry Aistrope said.

This portion of the day is part of Project Recovery Iowa, an Iowa Department of Health and Human Services program funded by FEMA.

“I think we’re reminded weekly at how many people still have such a strong need in our recovery efforts and some pretty sad stories,” Eshelman said. “People are still really trying to navigate through this and are still very deep in the recovery side and it has really changed a lot of people’s financial burden. You have to be sensitive to all of it knowing we have to also look to the future.”

Evening activities

Following the reflection and prayer service and bell-ringing, a community meal will be served 5-7 p.m. in the courtyard. At 6:30 p.m. a short program will recognize various contributors to tornado recovery to this point.

“We have some local and regional game-changers we’ll recognize. We have our partners who came in and were by our side for months. We also have some substantial financial supporters as well that we’re recognize,” Eshelman said. “We lost four residents, so we want to honor what was lost but also appreciate the progress and where we’re at. We have so much to be thankful for, but deep down we still have a long way to go.”

Greenfield Municipal Utilities General Manager Scott Tonderum, who is also on the recovery team, encourages those visiting town to take in all the rebuilding that has happened since the tornado.

“I am totally amazed by the amount of recovery efforts and reconstruction that has taken place in the 350 days since the devastating Greenfield tornado. Please take the opportunity to come out and partake in the many events that are scheduled to take place on the anniversary of the Greenfield tornado, May 21, 2025,” Tonderum said. ”While in Greenfield for the day, please check out some of the beautiful homes that have been built or are under construction and the vast improvements that are being made to other properties and amenities in the area.”