Keli Ooms, 18, received a $1,000 scholarship through the Kohl’s Kids Who Care Scholarship Program for her work with disaster relief after an EF-5 tornado damaged over 400 homes in Parkersburg, Iowa, on May 25, 2008.

She applied in March, and she learned about this scholarship in mid-July. Keli said 194 received the regional scholarship out of 18,000 who applied.

“It’s kind of cool, but I didn’t do the work to get the recognition,” Keli said. “It’s kind of nice to have it as an after thought.”

Keli now lives in Hollandale, and her father Neal is pastor of the Hollandale Reformed Church.

Keli was selected on a criteria based on initiative, leadership, creativity and generosity.

Keli’s work after the tornado was largely in collecting and giving out supplies to the families affected.

“These young volunteers truly stand out and deserve to be recognized for making their communities a better place and exemplifying the spirit of volunteerism,” said Julie Gardner, Kohl’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer. “The Kohl’s Kids Who Care Scholarship Program gives us the privilege to reward these great kids with scholarships and also to help ease the cost of post-secondary education.”

Keli graduated from Aplington-Parkersburg in May. Next year, she will attend Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Ill., to major in social work.

Keli learned about the scholarship in school, and her parents Lynn and Neal nominated her for the scholarship.

At the time, Neal was reverend of Hope Reformed Church in Parkersburg, and he was volunteer coordinator during the tornado relief effort.

“We had a lot of calls at our house because everyone knew that we were a pastor’s family, so they knew that was a good way to get in contact to figure out how to help people. It was just a lot of people wanting to bring supplies and donations, and we didn’t really know — or have been contacted on where to send them, so I just told them to bring it by the church, and I just got a lot of it, so I opened up the church, and had all the stuff sorted out and just gave it away to the tornado victims,” Keli said.

A lot of the supplies that she helped work with were clothes, toiletries, toys, stuffed animals, pet food, tooth brushes and diapers.

“It was all day everyday,” Keli said.

“It was kind of just everyone do what you got to do to pitch in wherever you can,” she added.

Many families lost everything in the tornado, and Neal said more than 330 families lost their homes, about 150 homes were severely damaged and the grocery store in Parkersburg was destroyed, and Neal said the next closest store was about 25 miles away, which was especially difficult for the elderly.

One day, a Wonder Bread truck dropped off 4,000 loaves of bread, according to Neal. Keli said it was closer to 10,000. Another day, 40 cases of bananas were dropped off.

On another day, a semi came that was full of new furniture, which Neal said was gone in a day.

Donations were still coming in through September.

Keli has been on four mission trips to Chicago, Pine Ridge Indian reservation, tornado relief in Missouri in eighth grade, and she helped build a house and renovate a school in Mexico.

Mission trips are an important part of the Ooms family, and Neal has been on over 25. After all those mission trips, Neal said it was interesting to be on the side of the people who need the help.

Keli could receive another scholarship from Kohls, as 10 national scholarships of $5,000 will be given to 10 of the regional winners.

“We were very proud of her, and we thought that it was a nice reward for all of the time that she put in. But she didn’t put the time in expecting a reward,” Neal said.

Whether she gets it or not, it’s great to see how many kids have reached out,” he added.