After an EF3 tornado hit Plevna, Kansas, last month, former fire chief Ken Keiter traveled to lend a helping hand and bring relief supplies to those in need.
As a member of the Eudora Lions Club, he was notified the community northwest of Wichita had severe damage. He and his brother Jerry Keiter of Overland Park jumped at the opportunity to help.
“ I didn’t have any personal connection. Just the desire to and the ability to help,” Ken Keiter said. “Being a first responder is in your blood.”
Plevna was devastated by the tornado in mid-May, and resources were limited in a town with a population of 85 people. After being contacted by the Kansas Lions Foundation Alert Program, the Keiter brothers traveled to Plevna for three days to hand out supplies.
Ken Keiter said the experience was similar to his search and rescue days. Jerry Keiter had helped family and friends after a disaster, but never strangers.
“I was an extra pair of hands and to help,” Jerry Keiter said. “It was rewarding to see their faces seeing someone they didn’t know help them out.”
Lions Clubs across the state have access to Alert trailers to help provide materials, such as tools, hygiene items, trash bags and tarps, to help after disasters. Any Kansas Lions Club member can be part of the Alert Team to deliver relief supplies to people after emergency situations.
“Their help was incredibly encouraging. We’re incredibly grateful,” Plevna Councilman David Green said. “I didn’t even have all that stuff before the tornado. They hooked me up with those things, which I’ve been using ever since.”
Green is the pastor of the local church next to his home. Both buildings were destroyed.
“You always hear about somebody else’s tornado and having their house removed. But you’re like, wow, well, that’ll probably never happen to me,” he said. “Our insurance just dropped all the churches in this area at the beginning of the year. Now it’s going to take a very long time.”
Help from the Lions comes at no cost to those in need and is funded by the Kansas Lions Alert Team Emergency Grant. But often the hardest part is getting the word out that there’s help, Ken Keiter said.
“When you have a trailer that has all of that equipment on it and is free, it’s getting the word out that it’s there,” he said. “When a tornado strikes a small community, they start looking for resources right away. They didn’t even get county resources until the day we were leaving.”
Plevna’s community is gradually cleaning up the town and has had people from across Kansas like the Keiters travel to help after the storm. Recovery is now about the manual labor involved with cleanup, Green said.
“There’s still a lot of tree trimming that needs to be done, trash that still needs to be picked up. And it’s not a glamorous job, but that stuff all takes time,” Green said.
Now that he’s retired, Ken Keiter intends to pay close attention to where tornadoes hit across the state in case the Lions Foundation calls, he said.
“I’m going to start clearing my calendar out a little bit, so we can leave on a moment’s notice when a tornado hits,” he said.
Reach reporter Maya Smith at [email protected].
