KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers topocs Miami County in Kansas. He also covers agricultural topics. Ryan is deeply connected in the Miami County Community and was tipped off by a viewer about Thursday night's community meeting with the non-profits. The Goff Family also reached out to Ryan and was willing to share their story. Share your story idea with Ryan.
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Weather patterns might be 7-year-old Eloise Goff's worst nightmare after the week she's had.
"My cousin goes to the dance with me, and she just said, 'Hold hands and pray,' and we did," Eloise told me.
She and her cousin were praying that Monday night's tornado wouldn't touch down at her Hillsdale, Kansas, dance studio.
"We were doing our group dance and the tornado sirens went off," she said.
The young dancer has been on stage at national dance competitions, according to her mom and dad, Cody and Jordy Goff. But no matter how much she rehearses, there was no preparing for this week's weather.
"I was just trying to keep everybody calm," Jordy Goff said. "She called me on FaceTime and we kept losing connection. It was tough."
"I’m just praying, nothing hits, nothing hits," her dad Cody said. "I think it was your map [KSHB 41] but, it just veered off right before it got to their building."
The Goffs breathed a sigh of relief when they came home that night to find only minor damage to the building.
"All of our windows are just busted out in the living room, glass all the way through the hall, and in the dog’s kennel," Cody Goff told me, adding that, "the air conditioner took a little beating."
Less than 48 hours later, a regular afternoon of play in the front yard quickly turned into a scramble to seek shelter as a hailstorm approached.
They weren't ready for the Hillsdale tornado, nor the size of the hail on Wednesday.
"I mean, you never think it’s going to happen to you," Jordy said.
It's stories like this that brought about 35 of Miami County's nonprofit organizations together on Thursday night.
The bi-yearly meeting had already been on the calendar for the Miami County Community Foundation; The goal: To bring together as many county resources as possible.
The timing of this week's storms?
"We just decided, it was probably perfect timing, Miami County Community Foundation Executive Director Tammy Booe told me. "There’s a need in the county right now. We can get everyone together and fill that need."
The nonprofit has 28 funds under its umbrella.
Booe is tasked with distributing those funds to Miami County nonprofits. All the money it collects comes from local donors, with the goal that donations help meet local needs.
Nearly 60 people gathered in downtown Paola to network and express their own needs, many sharing stories about the damage done to their own property.
"Our greenhouse was just destroyed in the storm yesterday - both of them," Kendra Brewer, a representative of a nonprofit at the Osawatomie State Hospital, told me during the gathering.
The organization uses gardening as therapy for the hospital's psychiatric patients.
Booe took a poll during the meeting, and only two people raised their hands that they didn't have any damage to their property. That didn't deter them from showing up to serve others.
"I think the nonprofits hear the pain in the community," Booe told me. "The churches, and different groups, that’s where people go when they’re in need. Having them be a part of the Miami County Community Foundation makes us a central contact for those people to help them find those resources."
The resources that showed up on Thursday night included school foundations, mental health providers, food banks, and animal shelters.
"I feel because of these storms, their needs are going to relate from the storm," Booe added. "We can all get them in the same room and figure out the best direction to help those in need right now."
For the Goff's, an old classmate, Jered Clement who runs a local construction business, donated his time and resources to board up windows for Osawatomie residents on Thursday. He boarded up the Goff's windows free of charge.
"It was just really cool seeing him, you know, doing something in the community, just trying to make sure people are taken care of," Cody Goff told me. "Everybody is just going out of their way, donating and volunteering."
For more information on available resources in Miami County, visit the Miami County Community Foundation website.
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