A small family-owned business is cleaning up and rebuilding after it was hit by an EF-3 tornado earlier this month in Kankakee County.
Tholens’ Landscape and Garden Center, located on the far south side of the community, had significant structural damage after the tornado touched down right across the street and barreled through its facility, but Wednesday the owner told NBC Chicago they’re making progress and decided to reopen their doors.
Staff and employees are back at work trying to find a sense of normalcy after the deadly tornado ripped through the community, with one victim dying in Aroma Park and two more in Lake Village, Indiana.
“Everybody knows if we’re going to survive, we got to keep working to rebuild,” said Nancy Tholen.
Tholen said the business first opened its doors 50 years ago. The anniversary this month is now marked by the devastation and destruction of what happened to them last Tuesday night as captured in new drone video.
“It doesn’t just impact us, it impacts the whole team, so everybody had a little bit of damage on their own homes, cars, and so forth,” she said. “But you just have to put one foot in front of the other everyday and know that God’s going to guide you.”
Clean up is still ongoing at the small business. The owner said five of their buildings were destroyed in the tornado, including two greenhouses and a toolshed.
“We’ve done a tremendous amount of clean up already,” said Chris Tholen, the owner’s son. “An 80-inch tree spade which was mounted on a large semi was buried under the debris of the tool shed, it collapsed on top of it.”
Over the weekend they had people out, helping them to remove, clear, and tear down what’s left of the buildings and debris.
“[The community] is all pulling together to help everybody and each other out because that’s what it takes because you can’t do anything without your community,” she said.
Despite the clean up and repairs, they decided to reopen for business at a limited capacity. They started making deliveries again this week and know they’re bouncing back with help and support from the community.
“It warms your heart, we couldn’t do it alone, you can’t do it alone,” she said. “You have to have community support and we have had that, and we truly appreciate it because without that you can’t make it work.”
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