Red Cross gets $100,000 from TAMKO for local disaster relief

May 31-- May 31--The outpouring of support for the hundreds of Southwest Missouri residents who have been impacted by recent natural disasters remains strong.

TAMKO Building Products donated $100,000 to the American Red Cross of Southern Missouri on Friday to assist with disaster relief operations in Jasper, Newton and Barton counties. The region has experienced flooding, strong storms and tornadoes in recent weeks, resulting in home evacuations, water rescues and three fatalities.

"It's really fabulous what you guys do, and it's a good time to help," said David Humphreys, president and CEO of TAMKO Building Products, during Friday's check presentation.

Stacy Burks, executive director for the American Red Cross of Southern Missouri, said she's thankful for the support TAMKO has provided over the years. Friday's donation will be used for immediate needs, emergency response and disaster preparation for homeowners, she said.

The Joplin-based company since 2011 has contributed more than $1 million to the agency, which has helped people living in five states and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

"We appreciate TAMKO's support, not just this year, but in the past," Burks said. "It's very important to communities we serve and populations we serve."

The American Red Cross has been meeting immediate and urgent needs of homeowners in Carl Junction after an EF3 tornado touched down in the Briarbrook neighborhood on May 22, damaging more than 200 homes. The agency has also been assisting residents in Golden City, where three people were killed and another seriously injured in a separate EF3 tornado on May 22.

"We did feeding operations, and we've done our disaster assessments -- a little over 200 disaster assessments and approximately 650 meals and snacks served between the two areas," Burks said. "Those assessments go from minor damage up to completely destroyed."

Kim Eckerman, director of communications for TAMKO, said the company strives to give back to its community. She said several TAMKO employees were impacted by tornadoes last week, and others have been volunteering to help with recovery.

"TAMKO has always responded in a major way when we've been impacted by severe weather events and giving to the Red Cross," she said. "They do wonderful work in helping our communities to recover after incidents like this. It's important for us to continue those efforts."

Burks said multi-agency response centers soon will be set up to provide additional resources for people impacted by recent tornadoes.

"One of the things that these multi-agency response centers will do is allow those folks to come in and talk about additional needs that they might have, like insurance issues that our partners, both state as well as nonprofit partners, will be able to help them with," she said.

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