Pryor Library Collecting Lost Photos From Tornado

Lots of pictures were scattered after tornados damaged and destroyed homes more than a week ago.

The Public Library in Pryor is collecting photos people find so they can get them back to their owners.

The library has compiled all the photos found. People can just stop by and ask to look through the folder.

Some are torn or scratched--other photos are in remarkably good shape. But all are important memories.

“This one is super old,” said library director Cari Rerat. “Same with this.”

Who they belong to, well, that’s what Cari is trying to figure out.

 “You find random pictures because tornado debris. It doesn’t matter where it started. It ends up in really weird places,” she said.

As people find these irreplaceable photos and documents, they can drop them at the library. Cari knows firsthand what it’s like to lose the memories of school picture days and vacations.

“All the photos I have of me from the time I was born to probably high school are in a block of fused photos,” she said.

Cari lost everything in the tornado that hit Joplin in 2011.

“Like for my kids, I can’t show them the picture of the day I was born. I used to have a Polaroid of that,” said Cari. “So, for me, it’s a piece of my personal history that’s gone because all of that was destroyed.”

She wants to make sure the ones that weren’t destroyed in this tornado get back into the right hands.

“It’s an example of, like Mr. Rogers said, look for the helpers, so we are happy to be a part of the helping group,” she said.

The library will hold onto the photos for as long as necessary while people clean up from the storms.

The photos will be available on their Facebook page.

If you have Something Good you would like to share, email us at Somethinggoodnewson6@griffin.news