Villa Park block party is a celebration of resilience

Tammy Henderson has yet to turn on her natural gas since two waves of severe storms uprooted a tree in her front yard last month.

The Villa Park woman's family still showers daily in a neighbor's house as she waits for crews to repair what's left of her chimney.

But Henderson doesn't dwell on anger or bitterness from the losses she and her neighbors suffered from the Aug. 23 storm. Instead, she put together a scrap book of both the damages and the repairs along her street.

"The pictures turned out to be a wonderful memory of what could have been a tragedy," she said. "This block just banded together."

Neighbors along the 500 block of North Harvard Avenue spent Saturday grilling in front of their homes, organizing a scavenger hunt for their kids and reminiscing about last month's storm during an afternoon block party.

It was partly a celebration of the resilience neighbors exhibited in dealing with the damages from the storms.

But it was also partly a therapeutic exercise for the neighbors, who still spend their days updating each other on how things are going with the reconstruction.

Following the Aug. 23 storms, several basements along the block flooded and scars remain on many of the homes still waiting for crews to fix damaged chimneys and roofs, or to replace downed trees.

"I wouldn't raise my kids anywhere but Harvard Avenue," said Peggy Egan. "This is a really good block."

She spent the evening of the storm checking on the conditions of neighbors along her block. One of those, Mary Kaina, lost her car after a lightning strike downed a tree right on top of it.

"You don't want to hear the reaction I had," she recalled. "I was screaming and crying while I was on the phone with my husband."

Neighbors had considered postponing or canceling Saturday's block party, but Henderson said they believed the annual tradition meant too much to the community to miss.

"The bottom line is the people along this block are like family," she said. "We couldn't put this off because it means too much."