Tornado damage in Menasha, July 28, 2026. PC: Fox 11 Online
MENASHA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The communities in the Fox Valley are coming together after a tornado devastated parts of the area last week.
“This is something new to everybody, this type of catastrophe,” said Kerry Williamsen.
“We’re just here to help give back to the people who need it,” said Ashley Schmidt.
Some families in Menasha have lost everything. On the corner of Appleton Rd. and Seventh St. sits a small lifeline. Volunteers have set up tents to donate essential items.
“Literally everything from food to clothes to even just personal necessity items to try and get their houses back to some semblance of normal,” said Keili Summers.
Even volunteers, like Summers, have damage to clean up. However, she says she’s lucky.
“I’m one of the fortunate few that can say that my house is still standing and I can go home. My husband has been pulling trees from out the road, helping people cut their trees down. My kids and I have been out and about throughout the city, dropping off donations. Then, Friday we kind of landed here,” said Summers.
The setups featuring multiple tents started really small. For Schmidt, it was just a table giving away peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. For the tent Summers was volunteering at, it was tables giving away brats, hot dogs, waters and Gatorade.
“Now we have three canopies full of just everything from dog food to sandwiches to hygiene items and still carrying brats and hot dogs,” said Summers.
Volunteers say this experience has brought them closer.
“We’ve actually made a lot of new friends ourselves this week who have continuously been coming back to help as well. So, it feels like we kind of created our own family by participating with this after how it started,” said Schmidt.
“Everybody is helping strangers, people you don’t know and as you start sharing your stories, that’s how we learn from one another. That’s how we grow. That’s how we grow as a community,” said Williamsen.
Some of the volunteers say they plan to continue donating at that location this week. Totes and boxes are also good items to donate.
Community members have also offered donations or a helping hand through the volunteer reception center at the former UW-Oshkosh Fox Cities campus.
The resource distribution site at the former UW-Oshkosh Fox Cities campus will close Sunday, the city of Menasha confirmed. Donations will no longer be accepted at the former campus after 5:00 p.m.
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