“Now, I have a yard:” Naperville women lauded for restoration efforts after 2021 tornado

Nearly 2 1/2 years after a tornado ripped through her neighborhood, Katie Long Piper has her yard back.

The trees in the Naperville woman’s backyard may be gone, but she doesn’t have to worry about finding shards of glass, pieces of porcelain or other debris sticking up from the grass.

“The first six months, all I did was pick up bucket after bucket of debris,” Long Piper recently told council members, adding that her insurance company, like others, did not cover the expense of yard restoration. “Now, I have a yard.”

Piper is among the 80 families helped by a community effort spearheaded by residents Kristy Kennedy and Kelly Dougherty, who banded together to help their neighbors get their yards fixed.

City council members this week recognized the two women for organizing a $1.5 million grant fund to help restore the yards of those affected by the 2021 tornado.

“I want people to realize and think about what they did,” Long Piper said. “In these times when so much can divide us, they brought us together.”

A resolution recognizing the two women noted their “tireless efforts contributed to the safety of nearly 80 homes” and helped turn “despair into resilience.”

Kennedy and Dougherty secured $1.5 million — $1 million from the state and $500,000 from the city — to help homeowners with the cost of restoring their yards. The duo, who lived in the area affected by the tornado but whose homes were not impacted, then reviewed applications from homeowners, worked with contractors and helped residents through the process.

“We’re just so delighted we were able to make this happen,” Kennedy said.

Of the 80 families helped, about 70 had full yard restoration, which included removing sod and about four inches of topsoil. The remaining families had plants or flower beds replaced.

Kennedy said she looks forward to seeing the yards in the surrounding neighborhoods come to life this spring.