TOLEDO, Ohio — It has been over one month since an EF-2 tornado struck Point Place. The Messiah Lutheran Church and other area churches are raising $100,000 for 100 families to help alleviate the financial burden of the damages and repairs.
"The property damage that at first looked superficial is turning out to be huge," Jeff Bunke, the interim pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church in Point Place, said. "Especially for residents of the community who are in that kind of perfect donut hole."
Bunke said area churches describe the "donut hole" as people who do not qualify for government assistance, but don't have enough money comfortably saved up for when disaster strikes.
"They don't fit the 1-200% of the poverty level for assistance from the government resources, and yet they don't have the kinda cash that's readably available to them to deal with deductibles, to deal with getting tree limbs and trees removed from private property," Bunke said.
It is that group of people that motivated the churches to band together, along with the Lutheran Social Services of Northwestern Ohio. The LSSNO will manage the funds and the applicants.
"We do have some people that do fall in that donut hole and wonder 'how are we going to do this?'" said Amy Kuhlman, the pastor at RiverPoint Ministries United Methodist Church. "So this is there, hopefully, to help them."
If you would like to donate, you can do so here or send your donations directly to the Lutheran Social Services Toledo office on Collingwood Boulevard.