Morton Public Library received its first delivery of items that were carried away by Sunday’s storms. Reports of personal effects found across northern Illinois immediately followed the tornadoes that hit the area. Volunteers from six Chicago-area suburbs have been collecting the items to bring back to central Illinois.
Morton’s library is serving as the placeholder for the items. Director Janice Sherman says the library has received up to 200 photographs, various paperwork, pages from scrapbooks, and even some handwritten recipes. She says the library is happy to do its part in helping people impacted by the storms.
“When you see things like this…the top left corner of what’s obviously a wedding photo, and you can see the bride’s and the groom’s faces very clearly, something like that could be very precious to a family member.”
Sherman says photos without identifying information will be posted on a Facebook page that’s working to collect such items with tornado victims. She says items with owner information will be organized in alphabetical order for easy retrieval. Those impacted by the storm are invited to come to the library to browse the collected pictures.
Chicago area volunteers will continue to make deliveries of items found for the next several weeks.
Here's the Facebook page looking to reunite photos and other paperwork with tornado victims: