Letter - Let's all work together every day
June 17 marked the two-year anniversary of the EF4 tornado that ravaged the city of Wadena; damaging more than 400 homes, 20 businesses, the community center, ice arena and our high school.
To the editor:
June 17 marked the two-year anniversary of the EF4 tornado that ravaged the city of Wadena; damaging more than 400 homes, 20 businesses, the community center, ice arena and our high school. Over many months, hundreds of Minnesotans donated their time, talent and resources toward our recovery. For that, we remain eternally grateful.
The volunteers that helped us in Wadena didn’t care about political party affiliations or special interests, and no one cared about pretenses. Everyone was just there doing the right thing to lend a helping hand.
When the state and national media attention subsided, the people of Wadena didn’t waste a lot of time feeling sorry for ourselves. We continued working on rebuilding our homes, repairing our public buildings and restoring normalcy the best we could to our little town of 4,100 in central Minnesota.
With the help of FEMA, we were able to construct our new high school, which will open again to students in the fall. We also utilized $750,000 from the state in 2010 to design and plan the Wadena Regional Wellness Center to replace our destroyed community center. Today, we’re working to secure the additional resources needed to complete this project through a new state bonding grant program created by the Legislature this session.
Much work remains unfinished, but the attitude that struck Wadena the day after the disaster remains strong. Our community is interested in solutions and solving problems, so we will keep working hard to fully recover.
The Wadena tornado showed us that when faced with a tough situation, a great Minnesota still exists. We ought to work together every day as if a tornado hit us yesterday.
Wayne Wolden, mayor
Wadena, MN
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