Oklahoma and Kansas communities rally to return items lost in EF4 tornado

In the aftermath of the devastating EF4 tornado that tore through the areas of Barnsdall towards Bartlesville, Oklahoma, community members are rallying to reunite lost belongings with their rightful owners.

Scattered as far as a 100 miles from the disaster zone, personal items have turned up across Green County and Kansas, sparking a widespread recovery effort.

A newly formed Facebook group, the Barnsdall Tornado Recovery Group, has quickly become a beacon of hope for those affected.

With more than 800 members and counting, the group facilitates the return of found items, such as family photographs, yearbooks, and personal documents, to those who lost nearly everything to the violent storm.

Melanie Dildine who started the group says it was her son's idea. Dildine says her mom who is 87 lives in Barnsdall and lost everything.

"Her mother kept daily journals and so she started keeping journals as well," Dildine said. "She lost around 40 full books of journals and people are finding pages all over the place."

Dildine hopes any part of her mother's and grandmother's journals can be found and returned.

Anyone who has found items is encouraged to post pictures of what was found on the group's page to reunite them with their owners, who have lost irreplaceable memories.

Robin Mackley posted pictures of found photographs, parts of a journal from 1987, parts of a cook book and various debris scatter across her families land in Conan. She also noted he land is covered in debris from homes as well.

"If something like this happened to me I would want anything back," said Mackey "I know after going through something this devastating even a little of piece of anything gives hope."

Mackley said she was already contacted by people who recognize citizens of Barnsdall in the photographs and is working to get their items back.

"I really hope this group can bring back their belongings," Mackley said.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Oklahoma and Kansas facebook group reclaims memories tornado took