It seems like just yesterday when the tornado ripped through Marshalltown last summer, affecting so many lives and local businesses in the area and surrounding communities. People driving through town today can still see the devastation, and local residents and businesses are constantly reminded of it.

At the same time, amazing progress has been made over the past 14 months … also visible throughout the community. As we know, the rebuild will take years but there are many great things happening and so much more being done that can’t be seen in a drive-by or shown in pictures. Marshalltown’s ability to overcome that storm is truly defined by the four P’s: Perseverance, Purpose, Patience and People.

It starts with people. Great people committed to their community began working behind the scenes raising money and figuring out how to get people back on their feet and in their homes. Great people continue to rebuild this community and keep their businesses operational while construction is occurring. In addition, great people came up with a plan to assist local businesses in a variety of ways to stay operational and retain jobs vital to our local economy.

Just recently, Iowa Valley Community College District secured partnerships with Lennox Industries and JBS to provide $3,182,955 in direct assistance as a retention strategy in support of 843 local jobs. The financial assistance will allow these companies to provide additional training to all employees who were temporarily displaced due to the natural disaster. The training is necessary due to upgrades in technologies and equipment during the rebuild of the facilities. This assistance would not have been possible without the commitment from our Governor, our local legislators, the Iowa Department of Economic Development, Marshall Economic Development, and the companies themselves. Despite minor obstacles, perseverance and patience kept the partnership moving forward, demonstrating the overall commitment to community.

The strength of a community is defined by the people. Throughout this past year, Iowa Valley Community College District has worked with a number of fantastic allies that are also committed to responding to diverse community needs and building community partnerships. On behalf of Iowa Valley Community College District, a special thank you to all those supporting the recovery efforts in Marshalltown. In the upcoming year, we look forward to continuing our service to this community and the surrounding areas.

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Jacque Goodman is Vice Chancellor of Continuing Education & Training for Iowa Valley Community College District.