Kankakee cross country coach Rich Olmstead and soccer coach Vincent Mkhwanazi took unique paths to become members of the Kankakee community, with Olmstead’s path covering hundreds of miles and Mkhwanazi’s covering thousands.

But on March 10 and in the days and weeks that have followed, many members of this community, no matter how long they’ve been a part of it or how far away they came from, found themselves thrust together when an EF3 tornado and softball-sized hail caused widespread damage.

Olmstead and Mkhwanazi did their part to help with recovery whenever they could. Through countless hours of relief work – both their own and efforts they witnessed from others in the tornado’s aftermath – they saw firsthand the resilience that, they say, makes the community they now call home so special.

“It was amazing just how many people were out there doing the work,” Olmstead said. “Samaritan’s Purse is a good organization, and they were there for a couple of weeks. It was just the community pulling together.

“... It’s a good community here, it really is. I think Kankakee’s gotten a bad rap over the years, and I think slowly people are getting the hint.”

Olmstead spent a day working with Samaritan’s Purse Ministry, an organization that assists in disaster relief across the globe, cleaning up storm damage. He also helped neighbors remove damaged trees and assisted with food distribution at the high school.

A native of Sidney, New York, a small town in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, he came to the Herscher area in 1975 and then over to Kankakee in 1979.

Except for a few years spent in Carbondale in the late 1980s, Olmstead has called Kankakee home ever since.

He said he’s never seen anything close to the amount of damage March’s storm caused, but he was not at all surprised by how quickly everyone started to rebound.

It’s a community spirit he’s seen before.

“It always happens,” he said. “A few years ago, there was a derecho, maybe five or six years ago, and there was a large tree on River Street. I went to get my chainsaw and started cutting it up, and people came out of nowhere. There were eight or 10 people, and as I was cutting the branches, they were pulling them away.

“We cleared it within an hour. It was just all of us.”

In the aftermath of the tornado, Mkhwanazi spent time gathering and delivering supplies to families, friends and neighbors whose homes were damaged or destroyed, while also checking on his players and their families.

The storm struck about a week and a half before the girls soccer team was set to begin its season, with some players’ families seeing homes or vehicles damaged.

“The first thing is making sure that everyone is accounted for, because the first and most important thing is life,” he said. “I think an important part is that the kids were able to bounce back. A couple kids had difficulty making their way out because of roads or parent transport, and they were only using that one vehicle.

“But the most important thing, and I’ll keep reiterating, is that everyone is well and the recovery is in process.”

Mkhwanazi’s first introduction to the Kankakee County community came through his host family, Bill and Joan Dean, who opened their home to him when he came from Soweto, South Africa, to attend Olivet Nazarene University as a soccer player in 2006.

He has come to call the area his home in the two decades since his arrival, and in that time, he’s seen the family dynamic he’s shared with the Deans mirrored in the community during hard times.

“Despite all the differences, it’s just like family,” he said. “When adversity hit, it was nice to see how everyone came together and helped each other. There are lots of pros and cons in the community that you could point out, but it was beautiful to see how people, even from outside our community, would provide help and support.”