![\"Kelli](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/chovanec.jpg\" "\\"chovanec\\"")
<\/a>Kelli Chovanec and her daughters, Kathryn, left, and Breann, posed for a photo on the stairs of their new home in Delta.<\/p><\/div>As she faces a few milestones during the upcoming holidays \u2014 the birth of her new son, to be named Jacob, around Dec. 16, and the passage of six months since a devastating tornado turned her family’s life upside down \u2014 Chovanec reflected on the generosity of community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened in June is going to be a part of me and my life forever,\u201d said Chovanec, who recently completed her second week as assistant director of nursing on the sixth floor of UT Medical Center. \u201cIt\u2019s something you take with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chovanec and her two daughters, Breann, 5, and Kathryn, 3, were hunkered in the basement of their Delta home when an EF2 tornado struck June 5. She remembers sobbing on her cell phone to her husband, Quinn, \u201cI think our house is falling down!\u201d as their two-story structure crumbled. <\/p>\n
After the shell-shocked trio emerged to find their home disintegrated around them, the work really began.<\/p>\n
Chovanec, who has been with UTMC for five years, said she and her husband had no idea where to turn for basic necessities. As they assessed their options from a hotel, dazed by the turn of events, a circle of help was already forming.<\/p>\n
\u201cI needed a ton of help, but I didn\u2019t even know where to begin,\u201d Chovanec recalled. \u201cWe needed everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local organizations, including the American Red Cross and the United Way, provided staples and steered the Chovanecs in the direction of further assistance. Friends, colleagues and strangers appeared with bags of clothing, food and gift cards. Meals were provided at a local church.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne day, we came back to our house to find a bunch of people cleaning up all the trees in our yard,\u201d Chovanec said. \u201cSome of them were from the National Forestry Service, but others were just volunteers who raked for hours. They didn\u2019t know me or my family. They didn\u2019t even know each other, but they helped.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slowly, the family has begun rebuilding their lives. Chovanec and her husband sold their badly damaged home to a builder. Within a few months, the Chovanecs attended an open house in the place they once called home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe builder hugged us and was glad we came. She had found my baptismal gown and some photos during the rebuilding. They felt the love we had in the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few months ago, the family bought a home in Delta, which Chovanec has been furnishing in anticipation of her son\u2019s arrival. <\/p>\n
She looks back on the way relatives, friends, colleagues and community cared for her family with concern and said it isn\u2019t possible to express the depth of her gratitude. Although she and her husband weren\u2019t charity-oriented before the tornado, she said they\u2019re rapidly becoming known as the \u201ccan\u2019t say no\u201d couple.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they ask you to buy a shamrock or give a dollar for charity, we always give now,\u201d Chovanec said. \u201cHow could we say no with all the help we\u2019ve been given?\u201d<\/p>\n
Once the Chovanecs settle completely \u2014 both physically and mentally \u2014 they intend to return the kindness they received.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know how or when, but we\u2019ll give of ourselves in the way people gave to us,\u201d she said. \u201cHow do you express how thankful you are to people you don\u2019t even know? I guess we just give to someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
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UT Community Charitable Campaign supports those who assisted family<\/strong><\/p>\n The Chovanec family received assistance from both the UT family and the northwest Ohio charitable family during its time of need. <\/p>\n Kelli Chovanec encourages the UT family to support the ongoing University Community Charitable Campaign.<\/p>\n