Pawhuska Residents Collecting Donations At High School For Barnsdall Tornado Victims

A neighboring community immediately jumped into action to help victims of the Barnsdall tornado.

Pawhuska Public Schools opened its high school gym as a shelter the night of the storm and started collecting donations.

"Barnsdall is our neighboring community but they are not just a neighbor, they are our friends and our family," said Assistant Superintendent Beverly Moore.

The district even deployed its buses to the town to help the hardest hit area.

"We had two drivers that went down there early that morning and drove nursing home residents to Skiatook, north Tulsa, Claremore, and Nowata," Moore said.

When they got the call that the donations of water, snacks, blankets, and pillows collected were needed now, school staff drove up in the middle of the night to bring the items to the victims.

Moore said, "I pulled up and they had my entire car unloaded within 5 minutes, there were so many people there to help."

In the days since the EF-4 tornado hit Barnsdall, Pawhuska High School students have been volunteering to help clean up.

"It is a really good thing as a senior to see because to be honest we are rivals," said student Gloria Baker. "Like sports, that is a big rival of ours, but we do not have a rival if they are not there."

Baker has family that lives in Barnsdall and visits the community often. However, seeing it for the first time since the storm made the situation that much more real.

"I walked by the car wash I usually stop at with my mom and it was just gone," she continued saying, "My heart sunk for them because I have friends there, and my uncle lives there, and it was heart-wrenching for me to see that."

Baker along with her friends are taking the district's fourth load of donations to Barnsdall on Thursday. The schools will continue collecting clean-up items like trash bags, plastic totes, and gloves as well as snacks and personal hygiene items through the end of the school year on May 16th. 

Donations can be dropped off at any Pawhuska Public Schools office.