laval godparent: DEXTER: Tornado anniversary about leaving tragedy behind, finding the good in community (with slideshow)

Friday's Severe Weather Awareness tornado drill at Mill Creek Middle School was the first that most of the students and staff had experienced since the category EF3 tornado came to town exactly one year ago.

But for many of the kids at the school the memories of the incident were still fresh and the experience of seeking shelter in their own homes from one of mother nature's most acute wrath's was still ingrained in their minds and bodies.

"I was babysitting my little brother and we were outside playing basketball when the sirens went off,' said Mill Creek student Gigi Eisele. "My parents weren't home so we went to the neighbor's house and about five minutes later a few of my (other) neighbors came over and we went into the basement and locked ourselves into the bathroom."

It was an on-the-fly education in surviving a tornado that Eisele says she'll never forget.

"It's the only place that doesn't have windows and the weather people were saying that it was an actual tornado and not just a warning," she recalled. "It had always just been a drill and when it did (come) it was kind of a shock. When you're in the middle of it you have to stay calm and afterwards, like when I went out and saw all of the devastation, you have to go out around and help other people and then make sure you're okay afterwards."

Mill Creek Principal Jami Bronson said that Eisele wasn't the only one of the children under her care who were changed positively by the response from the Dexter community that the tornado and its aftermath brought out in the coming weeks and months that comprised the first year of restoration and recovery that following March 15, 2012.

"The kids are thinking outside of themselves, which 12 and 13-year-old kids have a hard time (doing) ... what the tornado brought to us is more compassion and more collaboration, which we already had, but now we have them even better," Bronson said.

Although many of the kids were more seasoned with regard to safety during dangerous weather events, some of them had a hard time, including Eisele.

"I think we've had fire and lock downs but this is the first tornado drill ... I'm nervous and I kind of wish that they hadn't done this today because the year before there was an actual tornado and sirens and cops and today we're having this drill and it seems like we're living it again," Eisele explained, adding that she understands why the school and community were handling the anniversary in the way that they did.

"We're tighter as a community then we were before the tornado ? Busch's and LaFontaine had food set up every day for a week afterwards and a bunch of people came from all over to help clean up and fix everyone's houses," she said. "I like the Dexter tornado run that's happening today and if they continue doing it on (March 15 annually) I think that will be a good way to not really celebrate but remind people of the tornado and how we came together." Continued...

Bronson wanted the kids to understand that she wants them to move on from the tornado and be as prepared and safe as possible in the event that another tornado comes to Dexter in a similar fashion to March 15, 2012's twister.

"Being a year out from the tornado can trigger a lot of the memories for the kids and its real to them now so when we do a drill they're practicing like it's real ... they lived through something traumatic," Bronson explained. 'We want to celebrate as a community but recognize that the sirens and the tornado drill can trigger some memories for kids, and if they do we have staff on hand for that. But the kids handled it really well and we appreciate Michigan Committee for Severe Weather Awareness coming in and helping us with our drill and reminding the kids of safety. We take safety really serious at Dexter.

The committee was one of several other agencies at the school, including Michigan State Police Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division, and members of the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Emergency Management Division.

WCSO's Director of Emergency Management Marc Breckenridge joined MSP's EM head Lt. Walt Davis over the PA system with Bronson in prepping the hundreds of students who would soon line the hallways of Mill Creek with their knees tucked into their chests and against walls and lockers while their arms held books and folders over their head as if to protect themselves from debris that may harm them if a tornado came close enough to the school to shatter windows, cause ceiling fixtures to fall and project debris at them from outside.

"I would like to say first of all that Washtenaw County averages one tornado every 2.3 years, so last year's tornado that was an EF3 with 130 mile per hour winds ... in 2011 we had two tornadoes that touched down in the woods where no one was injured," Breckenridge said. "The tornado that touched down here in Dexter was the strongest one recorded in Michigan in 2012. It confirmed for us that outdoor warning sirens work really well to alert the public, especially with things like radio, local radio and TV news broadcasts. We have 82 sirens currently covering Washtenaw County, but last year convinced us that we needed more, so we're going to add 26 more over the next year. That is going to increase our coverage in the county to 75 percent of the population."

Students Brandon and Maddie Wright said they appreciate the practice of being prepared for another tornado. It wasn't until neighbors said that the F3 was coming down the road that they took shelter.

"I remember my dad telling me to bring in the garbage cans because they fly all over the place so I brought them in and shut the garage door so they wouldn't blow all over the place," Brandon recalled. "After we went down in the basement it sounded like a freight train."

Maddie added that her ears "popped" from the affect that the tornado had on the pressure in the atmosphere around her family.

It's not the scream of the tornado or the shattering of the glass that the Wright children will remember; however, it's how their neighborhood responded when everyone emerged from shelter once the coast was clear.

"Friends and people were texting us to make sure that we were okay and my parents were calling and texting everybody too," Brandon said. Continued...

She made that statement while pointing to pictures of her Dexter Township property the very next day after the tornado visited her neighborhood.

Papp was in Arizona when the tornado happened, which was a blessing from a personal safety perspective, but it was horrifying and frustrating when she saw news of the tornado on a Phoenix news station broadcast, which aired footage and included her house and the houses of her neighbors.

"What we saw was an aerial shot of the garage," she said. "We hoped that was all of the damage there was, but it was considerably worse."

In addition to the damage to the Papp family's house, several 40 foot evergreens on their property and their nearby neighbors' properties were felled. It's hard for her to talk about the fact that there will never be trees of that size and maturity on her property to replace the ones that Carriage Hills residents lost in her lifetime.

"Our house damage was repaired but you can never replace those trees ... that's the saddest part that it won't be in our lifetime," she said.

On the other hand, Papp says she will never forget the sense of community and "togetherness" that erupted in her neighborhood in the days following March 15, 2012.

"I met neighbors that I've never met before, I met strangers that came from Indiana to help clean up the mess," she said. "The outpouring of support was just fantastic and I just want to pay that back somehow and express my gratitude."

Dan and Raynette Kempf were also in attendance to see if they could give more money to the relief fund and see if they can help in other ways to help their friends and neighbors.

The couple live in Loch Alpine, but despite having an Ann Arbor mailing address consider themselves very much Dexter and have had their children and grandchildren in Dexter Community Schools.

"We wanted to help further replenish the fund," Raynette said. "We heard that this has something to do with Arbor Day and trees and hoped to donate to that as well."

Dan had just spoken to some friends of his who live on Horseshoe Bend in Carriage Hills, who were telling him about the drastic changes to the landscape of the neighborhood.

"They were telling us that before you couldn't see the house for all of the trees from the road, and now there are no trees," Dan said. "Their house didn't get damaged and Carriage Hills didn't get nearly as much damage as Huron Farms, but it still not the same there."

Raynette recalled that despite living in Loch Alpine, she was scheduled to perform with the Dexter Community Band at Dexter High School at about the time the tornado hit and she was on her way there when a friend called and warned her "not to come near Dexter."

Despite not physically being present or having their home in the tornado's path, the Kempf family has felt a great deal of impact from the events of March 15. 2012.

"We're from Zeeb and Huron River Drive area, but our phones and schools are Dexter so my kids and grand-kids go to Dexter schools and they have lots of friends who live in Huron Farms and elsewhere in the community," Raynette said. "One of our friends said they heard the sirens and saw the tornado before hiding under a huge oak table. They're still afraid of thunderstorms."

Matt LaFontaine explained that the relief fund's purpose is to help people and the community as a whole heal and move on from the tornado itself, while enshrining in honor and remembrance what greatness that it brought out in Dexter.

"Our goal after we started and got the relief fund together was to make sure that we were not only letting people heal, but that they were coming out the other end a little stronger than a year ago," LaFontaine said. "I think it's taught a lot of lessons/ We had a lot of young people, as you can see here today, that got involved. We had a lot of children bring their piggy banks here to empty them out to help the relief fund and thanks to the community support that we had we raised a lot of money that went to a lot of people that were in need.

"It's a celebration for us, for sure."

For more information on the Dexter Relief Fund visit http://www.dexterrelieffund.com/.

Staff Writer Sean Dalton can be reached at 734-429-7380 or sdalton@heritage.com. Follow him on Twitter @seankdalton. Text HERNews and HERWeather to 22700 to receive news and weather alerts to your cellphone. Msg and data rates may apply. Text HELP for help. Text STOP to cancel.

It was an on-the-fly education in surviving a tornado that Eisele says she'll never forget.

Although many of the kids were more seasoned with regard to safety during dangerous weather events, some of them had a hard time, including Eisele.

Students Brandon and Maddie Wright said they appreciate the practice of being prepared for another tornado. It wasn't until neighbors said that the F3 was coming down the road that they took shelter.

Maddie added that her ears "popped" from the affect that the tornado had on the pressure in the atmosphere around her family.

"Friends and people were texting us to make sure that we were okay and my parents were calling and texting everybody too," Brandon said.

Maddie remembered the 50 or so people "going at it" with a chainsaw on felled trees in her yard, which was just a small snapshot of a larger scene on which dozens and dozens of neighbors and volunteers were pitching in to begin the cleanup phase of the recovery as a first of many efforts that have brought Huron Farms and the other neighborhoods and streets that were damaged to the state of normalcy that their residents are enjoying and appreciating one year later.

"It was good to know that our community was there for us when we needed it," Maddie said, adding that her family is back in their home now after living with friends and family until their home was habitable again."

Brandon thanked the school district for being supportive and providing shelter and food in the hours and days the comprised the immediate aftermath of the storm.

"Since we couldn't get to our house, we came here and they gave us cereal and other stuff we needed to live and they were handing out blankets," Brandon said.

Tornado Relief Fund winds down at LaFontaine for anniversary open house

It's appropriate that Dexter's LaFontaine Automotive dealership was a beacon for residents who wanted to chat with neighbors and seek additional relief from the fund, which has enough money at this point for some tree re-plantings and lawn remediation efforts.

The "Dexter: One Year Strong" event was also an opportunity for residents to donate pictures for a scrapbook and utilize a video booth to share their own personal account of the incident for posterity's sake.

Carriage Hills resident Teri Papp came to the dealership at about 4 p.m. to apply for tree plantings. The planting effort will begin in earnest this April and much of the work will be done by volunteers who were registering at the event to pitch in with that work.

"We received help from the fund early on for deductibles," Papp said. "But we are requesting tree replacement because as you can see we lost a lot of trees."