TAMPA, Fla. — This Mother's Day, a Tampa mom is helping her daughter and the rest of her family after a tornado wrecked a Kansas community.
On April 29, a tornado in Andover, Kansas, damaged the home belonging to Jeannine Davis's daughter.
"I don't allow myself the time to really think about the enormity," Davis said. "I realized how fortunate I am because it was really scary to see something so close."
The family is in the process of applying for relief but Davis said the process takes time and she worries the home isn't stable enough to withstand another storm.
So she started a GoFundMe in hopes of providing quick relief.
"I just felt like if you don't ask, nobody's ever going to know," Davis said.
The tornado damaged more than 1,000 buildings in the south-central part of the state. Winds were up to 165 mph and carved a 13-mile-long path of destruction.
The suburb of Andover, outside Wichita, Kansas, sustained the brunt of the damage with a reported EF-3 tornado, according to the National Weather Service. Andover's fire chief said the storm damaged 300 to 400 buildings.
"Insurance companies don't just jump in there and start handing you what you need," Davis said. "The damage to their home could become more, the longer we wait to secure it."
A large tree limb went straight across her daughter's roof, leaving it open for water to leak through during the storm season, Davis said. It also damaged windows, the family's car, and the backyard.
The family, which consists of two children, is still able to stay in the home in the meantime and must because they foster numerous animals for the local shelter, Davis said.
The home sits close to several homes that have been completely devastated.
Aside from easing the burden on the costs, Davis said the efforts to help are also in honor of her daughter and son-in-law's active roles in the community. For instance, her daughter's husband serves as a member of the U.S. Air Force, Davis said.
"I just want her to know how proud I am of her," Davis said. "She deserves somebody to help."
