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December 13, 2021

After Deadly Tornadoes, Promo Pros Pick Up the Pieces

The outbreak of tornadoes in six states in the South and Midwest killed scores of people and affected the personal and professional lives of promo product professionals.

By  Christopher Ruvo

As the sirens wailed and the winds of the tornado roared, Collins Byrn hunkered in a bathroom downstairs in his print shop. It was, he reasoned, a good place to be, given that it was bulwarked by the crux of two strong concrete walls.

“I was thinking that if my roof went, I still would’ve been OK,” Byrn said. “If I would have been in the direct path though, I might not have made it.”

Byrn was one the professionals in the promotional products industry affected by an outbreak of several dozen violent tornadoes that spanned six states, causing destruction and scores of deaths the night of Friday, Dec. 10 into Saturday, Dec. 11.

Byrn, the owner of T-Shirts Plus, was speaking from his hometown of Mayfield, KY, a city of about 10,000 people that experienced catastrophic damage when a twister blasted through. Eight people in Mayfield, which was among the hardest hit areas, were killed when the tornado slammed into a candle factory. In Kentucky, 74 people were confirmed dead as of late Dec. 13. The death toll was expected to rise.

“My shop is about a mile from downtown where the worst of it was,” Byrn said. “There was no damage to my property and I’m OK. I was very fortunate.”

Alex Goodman was feeling blessed, too.

The owner of Awardmasters Inc., a Mayfield company that specializes in trophies, recognition awards and engraving, reported that she, her family and her seven employees are all OK.

“It’s life at this point,” Goodman said. “We’re thankful that we’re here.”

Still, Goodman is dealing with the aftermath. While the physical structure of her business is in good shape, the tornado knocked out power and water to her shop during its busiest time of the year. “We had been running two shifts to get everything done,” she said.

Production is now at a standstill, but as of Monday, Dec. 13, Awardmasters was opening for a few hours daily so clients could pick up orders completed prior to the storm.

Meanwhile, Goodman is also chair of the Housing Authority of Mayfield. Given the civic responsibility of that role, Mayfield’s post-tornado work in her community has included helping 300 families displaced by the storm find shelter. It’s also entailed driving generators to places where they could be used to power essential medical equipment, delivering diapers and wipes to families in need, and finding/delivering insulin.

Goodman’s been doing all that as her husband, Tyler Goodman, a county commissioner in Graves County, of which Mayfield is the seat, helps plan and execute the emergency response for the area. The tornado razed a Mayfield bank where Tyler is vice president and destroyed the county courthouse, Alex Goodman shared. “Both my husband’s offices are just gone,” she said.

Still, if there’s been a silver lining, it’s that Goodman has seen community members coming together to support each other – and folks from far and wide providing tangible support. “We just had 10 private planes fly in, bringing supplies from all over,” Goodman said. “The outpouring of love has been incredible.”

Like Goodman, Byrn’s business isn’t operating at the moment. A generator has kept essentials running at his home, but he and his brother had to drive more than 40 miles south into Tennessee to get gasoline. They also picked up necessities like milk for his brother’s grandchildren.

“Thankfully, my family is fine,” he said, “but a friend lost his home. A lot of people have lost their houses. A pretty good friend lost his business.”

Byrn choked up as he talked about damage to a church and the candle factory where local folks perished. He said his family once owned the land on which the candle factory was built, and while he no longer has any legal/ownership connection, “I feel for that property. I feel for the people.”

Mayfield wasn’t the only city where tornadoes wrought havoc. In Edwardsville, IL, at least six were confirmed dead at an Amazon.com Inc. warehouse following a twister strike.

Fable Rushing works at Minuteman Press of Edwardsville, IL (asi/377078). While the business had lost power, it was operational again Monday, Dec. 13.

“We were lucky,” Rushing said. “The Amazon warehouse isn’t too far away. On my way in this morning, you could just see a lot of debris on the side of the road – insulation, pieces of buildings.”

As The Wall Street Journal reported, the “tornadoes that ripped through six states over the weekend killed scores of people, leveled entire towns and left recovery teams facing weeks of clearing rubble, as scientists tallied what may be once-in-a-century levels of destruction on a path up to 250 miles long.”

On Friday, Dec. 10, the National Weather Service received a total of 37 tornado reports from the states of Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi and Tennessee. Some reports indicate the furious winds flung debris as high as 30,000 feet into the air. Jets cruise at that altitude.

Preliminary reports indicated that one tornado may have caused damage over a 250-mile-long stretch. The previous record for a tornado track was 219 miles, set in 1925 when a twister tore through parts of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.