Who was your hero of the storm?
[]A pile of trees outside Paula Benne's home represented something.
She just didn't know what.
Until the idea struck.
Some of the logs, which have been there for almost two months - since the days following a tornado that raked through parts of Miller and Cole counties - are to be turned into plaques recognizing people whose efforts helped pick up communities following the storm.
They'll be milled down to oval-shaped plaques, kiln-dried and etched with designs that resemble bolts of lightning.
The commemorative items will also contain a message and date: "Redemption Inside the Walls, stronger after the storm because of you."
They will be distributed during the Redemption Inside the Walls Concert at 5 p.m. Aug. 17 at the Jefferson City Jaycees Fairgrounds, 1445 Fairgrounds Road. Tickets are available at redemptioninsidethewalls.com and cost $30-$85.
Benne's husband operates a tree service, she said. And on May 23, the day after the tornado struck, a number of companies began asking him to get the damaged trees away from homes and businesses so they could begin working around the structures that sustained damage.
"They just loaded up his trailer with all these huge, old, historic trees that just had meaning to them," Benne said.
He dumped loads of the trees at the couple's farm.
"I'm a wood person. I love wood," Benne said. "And it's sad - those were trees that were special to somebody."
But a chance meeting with an artist at Jacob's Cave in Morgan County inspired her. The artist uses a process that electrifies the wood and creates patterns on its surface. The figures are branching electric discharges that sometimes appear on the surface of deteriorating high-voltage components.
"I just think it's beautiful," Benne said. "And I thought, 'How cool would it be to take some of that wood and do an oval and put these lightning bolts in them, put a plaque on them and recognize individuals that we don't know about that excelled during that time?'"
There are stories floating around about the work people did following the storms, she said. So she thought about taking the damaged trees and giving them back to people in a unique way.
Several challenges came to mind. First, the wood needed to be sawed down to a manageable size. And it would have to be kiln-dried. Benne thought of Keith Olsen.
Olsen, who operates a concrete-finishing business, also has a personal saw mill and homemade solar kiln.
Working with wood has always been a passion for Olsen, he said.
The mill, which he bought last year, can be programmed to reduce the wood to whatever shapes are needed - ovals, in this case, he said.
"I've done work for these people before," Olsen said. "I can do whatever they want."
After sawing the wood, Olsen will place it in his kiln for a week. The kiln was built based on designs from a university, he said. But he made improvements.
The kiln is 8 feet wide and 20 feet long. It has poly-carbonate panels on top. Poly-carbonate panels are made of plastic and considered exceedingly tough and resistant to ultraviolet rays. They are available in clear or opaque finishes.
The kiln gets very hot, Olsen said, but because it is solar-powered, it doesn't get as hot as other wood kilns.
"I have fans that kick on at certain temperatures. Air blows through the lumber," he said. "We put 'stickers' through it - little pieces of wood that keep the wood flat, to keep the lumber from twisting or warping."
Three attic fans in the kiln pull air across the lumber. The air also travels down the edge and out the bottom of the structure.
"It's all insulated to keep it hot as long as possible. At night, it relaxes the wood, so it's less likely to crack and warp," Olsen said. "If you had heat on it all the time, it is more likely to crack."
The tornado changed lives, and it altered plans for the concert. The obvious change was its venue - which shifted from the Missouri State Penitentiary to the fairgrounds. Less obvious was the resolve it created in the event's planners. They amended the name to include a focus on recovery from the tornado: Redemption Inside the Walls, Stronger After the Storm.
"There was a lot of fear and anxiety (after the tornado)," said Kirk DeMars, one of the concert organizers. "And we just want to bring back hope."
Benne and DeMars collaborated to put the concert together. Benne had come up with an idea more than a year ago and - both being members of the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce - approached DeMars with the idea at a ribbon-cutting.
Within a few days, both had support for the revival-style concert.
"The whole vision kind of started with we wanted to do something at the Missouri State Penitentiary," DeMars said. "That didn't work out with the storm."
Although the concert was to be - and remains - a revival, it also offered an opportunity to do something for a family at the church Benne attends, New Hope Baptist Church in Marion. Proceeds from T-shirt sales will go to the family of a 1-year-old girl with a cleft palate. The girl, who is blind in one eye, had one of a series of surgeries in May to repair the cleft.
"She's a phenomenal little girl," Benne said. "Jeff City is a great community. I thought this was something different that could bring the community together in faith."
The concert will feature the Newsboys, whose song "God's Not Dead" was featured in the film of the same name. The Australia-based Christian band has sold 8 million recordings and earned six gold albums. Thirty-three of the band's singles have reached No. 1.
Who was your hero of the storm?
The fury and destruction of the May 22 tornado that hit homes and businesses along a path from Eldon to Jefferson City was dwarfed by the outpouring of help, sacrifice and generosity of neighbors from near and far. Some of the stories of those who stepped forward to help are common knowledge in the community, but many are not widely known.
In conjunction with organizers for the Redemption Inside the Walls concert, the News Tribune would like to recognize those heroes of the storm who put community above self, who gave generously of what they had, and who went above and beyond what was expected.
If you know of such a person, tell us their story and nominate them for recognition. To nominate a hero of the storm, send a nomination letter of 200 words or less that details what the person did during the storm or in the days after it, their name and contact information, as well as your own name and contact information should we need further information about the nominee.
A committee will narrow the nominees to a list of finalists, who will be recognized at the Redemption Inside the Walls Concert on Aug. 17. Their stories also will be shared in subsequent editions of the News Tribune.
Nominations may be sent via email to [email protected]. All nominations must be received by 5 p.m. Aug. 1.