United Way raises nearly $50,000 for area tornado relief

United Way of Southeast Missouri raised nearly $50,000 for relief efforts in the week since an EF4 tornado killed one person and damaged scores of homes in Perryville, Missouri.

“We and the people of Perryville have been so overwhelmed by the outpouring of help and concern,” the local chapter’s executive director, Elizabeth Shelton, said in a news release Friday. “Online donations began arriving as soon as we posted in our social media Wednesday morning that we had established the fund and 100 percent of donations would go to Perry County. Then our local media helped tremendously by reporting on it, and checks flooded in.”

Shelton said her organization received more than $4,000 in checks in the 24 hours immediately after the storm.

St. Louis NBC affiliate KSDK-TV used its phone bank for a phone-a-thon, through which Shelton’s volunteers raised $18,000 in three hours.

The Perryville disaster fund will remain open indefinitely.

“Rebuilding a community is a long process,” Shelton said. “We are doing what United Way does best, working with a collaborative network to bring resources to where they are needed most. And the people of the heartland are doing what they do best, helping their neighbors. The response has been humbling and heartwarming. We are extremely grateful and proud of the caring people in this community.”

tgraef@semissourian.com

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