Southwest Michigan Cares Fund reaches over $70k as families still recover from tornado damage

CASS COUNTY, Mich. -- Some Michiana communities are still picking up the pieces after severe weather and tornadoes rolled through earlier this month.

Namely, homes, barns, and garages in Southwest Michigan are still draped with tarps and debris scattered across lawns following an EF-1 tornado that hit March 6.

Cleaning up and rebuilding is undoubtedly a lengthy process for the homes that got especially damaged by the tornado.

The United Way of Southwest Michigan activated the Southwest Michigan Cares Fund the day after the tornado to help raise money for boots on the ground recovery efforts.

Four weeks later, that fund has reached a new milestone and is another step closer to directly impacting recovery efforts on the ground.

"We're going to work deeply to make sure that the funds that have been raised, the $73,000 so far that has been raised, is going to go to those who are truly in need," says Zack East, with the United Way of Southwest Michigan.

Across three counties in southwest Michigan that were swept by deadly tornadoes, the need is there.

Some homeowners and families cannot live in their homes right now as they slowly get repaired.

"It'll take quite a while for a lot of this work to be done on the ground," East says.

The pot of the Southwest Michigan Cares Fund has since reached $73,000 dollars, which will be distributed in Cass, Branch, and Saint Joseph Counties through community organizations which are working boots on the ground in those impacted areas.

"I imagine some of those are going to be things like the food pantries, and shelter services, any of those kinds of things that are really helping people in the area, plus the Red Cross and others," East says.

This emergency fund hasn't been activated in six years, since local communities were affected by the covid pandemic.

East says he was blown away by the quick response and generosity of the local community.

"That is the most heartwarming piece of this, is that we didn't really have to go out and ask deeply of Southwest Michigan. People came to us and said, 'How can we help? To see that people, who probably are experiencing their own economic challenges and things said, 'There are others out there who need more than I do right now and I'm going to help,'" East describes.

That fund is still active with a new goal of one hundred thousand dollars.