Alumni Connect While Serving Victims of Tornado at Winterset
Beavers join thousands of Iowans and givers from across the Midwest in aiding victims of March tornado at Winterset.
Sheena (Wright) Cortner ’06 has been motivated to help others for most of her life. She attended Bishop Heelan High School in Sioux City and took part in community service there. She continued those efforts as a student at BVU, remembering how she used to roust members of her floor in White Hall and then at McCorkle Hall by banging pots and pans at the start of Buenafication Day.
“Education for Service was a big part of the BVU experience,” Cortner says. “I got people out of bed for their service work. I remember doing prairie burns for the Science Center on Buenafication Day.”
Cortner, a Physician’s Assistant at Madison County Memorial Hospital in Winterset, joined thousands of Iowans in providing help recently in the wake of a tornado that killed seven people in Iowa, including six at Winterset, on March 5.
“It was a day of volunteering for many people,” Cortner recalls. “We met at the Madison County Fairgrounds and the Emergency Management Disaster Manager divided people into groups and they were then bussed to different locations to help clean up debris.”
Cortner soon joined a group that included 2005 BVU grad Mark McDonough, of Iowa-80 Concrete. They were joined by Allissa (Hopkins) Johnson, of Earlham, a 2008 BVU graduate who joined Cortner in cleaning at a house damaged by the tornado.
Later that week, the Winterset boys’ basketball team competed at the Iowa Class 3A High School Boys Basketball Tournament. She felt pride when she learned of donations from other Class 3A programs being directed to the Winterset community.
“Randy Bissen, a 2005 BVU graduate who serves as Athletic Director and Boys Basketball Coach at Carroll High School, worked with his wife, Chelsea (Anderson) Bissen ’08 in helping to organize a pass-the-hat effort among the 3A state tournament teams,” Cortner says. “It was great seeing Iowans helping one another, and really special to share in that connection with fellow BVU alumni.”
Beavers everywhere can serve their communities, no matter where they live, by joining the 2022 Buenafication Day on April 21. Take a photo as you work in your community and tag it #Beaversgive. Send us your photos as you celebrate a BVU service tradition dating back to 1913.