As most know, a devastating tornado tore thru the central IL area last week, which was about 4 miles from my house.
I am auctioning off all of the items below to help benefit a couple that is friends of ours who lost everything.
(close up photos available if needed)
Items included in lot: -GM Polishing cloth tin with cloth inside -Sinclair oil can, full, in good condition -Standard Sta-Clean can in unopened condition -Cities Service can bank -Wynns Friction Proofing can un-opened -Welch-Penn fiber oil can, drained -Klenzal Illinois Oil products bottle, empty -Cities Service Koolmotor qt, no top -Mobil wrench desk clock (needs battery) -Castrol key chain -Wolf's head matchbooks -3 Random patches, Speed Freak cams & Clark Circle of Service -A new Washington Strong T-shirt, Size L (I bought several of these from a company that gave 100% of the purchase to the victims, this is my last one to give away)
Auction ends Sunday, December 1st at 9pm CT. I will pay shipping. I will send the donation as from my wife and I & the OldGas Community. Winner can pay me however they prefer.
Here is the couples' story:
Danny and Sarah Adams were busy Sunday morning getting ready to head to Champaign for the Bradley-Illinois basketball game when their plans — and their lives — were severely altered.
Adams, 30, the former Metamora star who played for the BU basketball team from 2002-07, had just retrieved his vehicle in Peoria for the trip. He drove through the raging storm and reached Washington in the immediate aftermath of the tornado.
"I was about two minutes behind the tornado and could tell it wasn't good," Adams said. "I got about half a mile from our house and couldn't go any farther. There were power lines down, debris all over and fallen trees.
"So I jumped out and sprinted down the street, hollering Sarah's name. A guy asked if he could help and I told him I've just got to find my wife."
When Adams first saw what was left of the couple's demolished duplex on English Oak Street, his heart sank. But he kept shouting Sarah's name until she heard him and responded from the driveway of a neighbor's house across the street.
"When we saw each other, it was just complete hysteria," Adams said. "We were so excited and thankful. It was an embrace that would never end."
Sarah's story was much more harrowing. Stepping out of the shower, she heard the phone alerts going off. She threw her clothes back on, grabbed a couch cushion, ran to the basement and curled up behind the cushion in a ball.
A few seconds later, the twister arrived at their home, and tore the upper level of the building apart as Sarah crouched low.
"She said the pressure felt like being in an airplane only much more," Adams said. A couch and a toilet tumbled down the stairs, but she was able to avoid their clattering descent.
Moments later when the freight-train-like noise abated, Sarah maneuvered around the large items blocking the stairway and dashed out of the house. That's when she suffered her only physical injury — cuts on the bottom of her bare feet from broken glass.
"It's hard to say you're blessed when something like this happens, but we are truly blessed," Adams said. "It could've been so much worse. I'm a believer in the man upstairs. Only one fatality? He was definitely looking out over this area."
On Monday, Adams and some family members hiked back to the couple's home to search for whatever they could salvage.
Ray won the auction for $100... he was very generous in that he actually donated $250 to Danny & Sarah. On top of that, he is also donating the items of the auction to someone else. Thanks Ray, a very kind gesture on both accounts!
