Chicago sisters from Mayfield, Ky. collecting supplies to help tornado victims
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Two Chicago sisters originally from Mayfield, Kentucky are collecting goods for the victims of a deadly tornado.
"It was just heart-wrenching seeing your courthouse, seeing the town, this tiny town that saw us grow up and seeing it destroyed and almost unrecognizable," said Yesenia Huizar.
Huizar and her sister moved back to Chicago about a month ago from Mayfield, Kentucky. the tiny town where they grew up.
Their whole family is still there. On Friday, when the weather began to change, they called their father who was huddled in the bathroom with their mother and 96-year-old grandmother.
The winds got worse and the tornado was coming.
"At first they were trying to be really positive for us, and they were like, 'No no don't worry, everything is fine,' but then it started escalating you can just hear it in their voices and it started changing to where they were like 'just pray,'" Huizar said.
Miraculously, they all made it out OK. Their one-level home is still standing, but the rest of the town is decimated.
People lost everything, power is out and will be for some time when temperatures are now dipping below freezing.
Yesenia and her sister jumped into action, They posted on social media about collecting donations, everything from warm clothes, shoes, toiletries, bottled water, non perishable food and more.
That post went viral and since they are making the more than six-hour drive with the supplies themselves, someone even lent them a semi to help get all the goods down there safely.
"We can't just sit here and just hope that someone takes care of it because Mayfield has always been a community where you help each other no matter if you move out," Huizar said. "It's still your home, and so we knew the right thing was to give back to this community that has give so much to us, and that's what we're trying to do"
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They leave for Kentucky this Saturday and hope more donations come pouring in, from their new home in the big city with a big heart to the little town of Mayfield that could really use a lot of that love right now.
"Mayfield was, is, a place that made us who we are, is a place that gave so much to us, helped us learn English, gave us a new opportunity in life, showed us the value of what it means to be a family seeing it destroyed," Huizar said. "You just don't know what to say."
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Donations can be dropped off at EC Dry Cleaning at 5312 South Pulaski Road.
