By Mandy McFarland Editor
NAPPANEE — The holidays may have ended a month ago, but for Nappanee city officials, Friday, Jan. 25 felt like Christmas all over again when Indiana governor Mitch Daniels came to town and delivered a check totaling $200,000.
The check will go to the city and will help relieve a large portion of the total amount the city owes for debris clean-up and other services following the Oct. 18 tornado.
A large crowd of city, county and state officials and Nappanee residents crowded into the Nappanee Public Library to hear Daniels’ announcement.

Nappanee City Clerk-Treasurer Kimberly Ingle explained that the city currently owes about $403,000. Debris removal alone, she said, cost the city around $303,000. This does not include things like extra labor for employees who helped with cleanup.
As if a weight had been lifted, Ingle explained the implications behind receiving the state money.
“It is almost half of my unmet needs,” she said.
Ingle went on to say that before receiving the check, the city’s only option was to see where they could draw from other funds to relieve tornado debt. This included the rainy day fund, into which had been transferred remaining amounts from funds no longer in use.
However, that still would not have been enough to meet the city’s overall need.
The check will also put the city one step closer to being able to rebuild their street department, which was destroyed during the tornado.
“That was the (city’s) biggest individual loss,” Nappaneey Mayor Larry Thompson said. “We lost our street department. That shows that we’re a victim too.”
Insurance alone would not have been enough to cover such a tremendous loss.
“It would have put quite a dent in us,” Thompson said. “That’s a sizable hit to our little budget. We were going to have to take money away from future projects.”
Daniels also announced the opening of a new statewide disaster relief fund designed to aid individuals who do not qualify for other forms of aid. The fund is available through the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.
“Today for the first time in Indiana history we will call that fund into operation,” Daniels said.
That means Nappanee will be the first city in the state to benefit from the fund. Even without aid from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), more residents will have the opportunity to apply for tornado relief aid. This especially pertains to those who do not make the cut to receive an SBA (Small Business Administration) loan.
Daniels commented on the response Nappanee received from its own residents and from neighboring towns and cities following the disaster. This included the thousands of volunteers who took part in the initial cleanup efforts Sunday, Oct. 21 and the thousands more who were turned away that day because of the excessive numbers.
“We’ve shown the world again that here in Indiana we don’t wait on Washington,” he said. “We help each other.”
This is apparent, he said, in the fact that Nappanee has been able to build up a tornado relief fund of nearly $600,000 from the efforts of Nappanee residents and other communities. This fund is in place for residential disaster relief.
The NITRO (Northern Indiana Tornado Recovery Operations) committee has also played an active role in tornado relief, setting up individual case management meetings and opening a temporary SBA office at the Nappanee Public Library.
Following the governor’s declaration, Thompson presented him with a commemorative ornament like the ones handed out to tornado victims in November during the citywide Christmas celebration, and NITRO director Linda Yoder presented him with the T-shirt and sweatshirt designed as a fundraiser for the Tornado Victims Fund.