This school is the epicenter of Union City tornado recovery effort
Union City — Waves of volunteers and donors bringing canned goods, clothing, bags of pet food and stuffed animals descended on Union High School as soon as the storm cleared.
At least 60 people were still there at lunchtime Sunday, carrying boxes of goods, serving hot meals and asking where to go to help clean up debris.
“This is my community, you know what I mean? I grew up here,” said Haley Hutchins, 21, a Union City High School graduate who lives in Kalamazoo. “I thought, ‘I know where it is, I know they’re going to need hands.’
“Here I am.”
Volunteers and tornado victims at a relief center set up inside Union City High School, March 8, 2026. Four people were killed and several others injured when a tornado ripped through southwest Michigan Friday afternoon.
The St. Joseph Street school became the epicenter of the community’s rebuilding efforts after a tornado ripped through the area Friday night, killing three people and injuring at least a dozen others. A fourth person, aged 12, died in the storm in a neighboring county.
Union City Community Schools administrators who are part of the district’s crisis response team met Friday, as soon as the storm hit, to coordinate their response, said Union City Elementary School Principal Michael Bates.
They opened the high school as a shelter where families can eat, sleep and shower. They serve meals there, collect and distribute donations. This is also where crowds of volunteers gather to ask where they are needed most. Some administrators barely left campus two days after the storm.
More: Three victims of Friday’s Michigan tornado outbreak identified
The Union City district and community are no strangers to tornado damage. Two years ago, a series of tornadoes swept through southwest Michigan, including the town of Sherwood, located in the Union City School District.
“It’s already a very sensitive issue for people, so there was that mindset,” Bates said. “They’ve had to help some before, but never to this extent.”
Perhaps that’s why the district’s response was so coordinated and rapid.
The district has permission to send school buses stocked with bottled water and other necessities to the hardest-hit areas of the Branch County community, where cleanup crews have closed roads, Bates said. A bus transformed into a delivery vehicle left the parking lot late Sunday morning.
Bates and other colleagues are monitoring students and staff who live in affected areas. Bates drove a family to shelter the night of the storm after their home was severely damaged.
Advisors from the school will visit affected families alongside practical people who can help them assess the damage. They will collect information about what people need and then ensure they receive appropriate help.
Union City coordinates donations and volunteers
Abi Spooner, the village of Union City’s utility billing clerk, ran a makeshift mobile command center from a folding table outside the school gymnasium on Sunday.
Men approached her to ask where their chainsaws could be best used. She told them which roads were open and which were still closed. She was juggling phone calls and emails. She stopped occasionally to tickle the cheeks of her 6-month-old daughter, Lailah, who a friend carried in a backpack to the gym.
More: How a Michigan Family Survived the Union Lake Tornado
The village of Union City has its own electricity system, as well as water, sewer, and trash collection. This means that Spooner knows who is affected: it’s its customers. She can connect them with volunteer electricians, donated generators and services offered by other emergency response agencies.
Spooner made flyers explaining the emergency responses available to tornado victims. Whether people need help or want to give it, she directs them to the school.
Volunteers arrive at Union High School
In a Facebook post Saturday afternoon, Union City Community Schools said it could no longer accept donations. The high school was “overflowing with resources,” according to the district report. He asked for help moving the donations Sunday morning.
The Union City High School football team was there from the start, carrying items from the school cafeteria to the gymnasium. Hours later, the wrestling team arrived to unload heavy boxes of donations.
The team received a message Sunday morning that a Wal-Mart tractor-trailer was coming with a load of merchandise, said Gary Taylor of Athens.
He and his family immediately left. Union City is a close-knit community where people look out for each other, Taylor said. It’s what he likes, and the family does its part.
“We packed up the truck and headed in that direction so we could help,” he said. “We just spent a weekend in Detroit playing in the state finals. It’s our first morning back. We got the message, so we came to see what we could do. The community came together really well.”
ckthompson@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Union City Community Schools coordinates tornado volunteers and donations.
