The tornado last May 25 damaged the OUR Cooperative building located just south of Bellefonte off of US 65. Director Jeff Cantrell said as a result of the damage, personal development training schedules were constantly changing.
In a letter to the OUR staff and Board of Directors, Cantrell began by sharing his condolences to the Yellville School District on the tragic loss of sixth grader James Duncan due to the storms. He noted there is an account set up at Arvest Bank to support the Duncan family. He also noted that an employee, Barbara "Sue" Willis, lost her house in the storm. Gift card donations are being received for her.
As far as timelines, Cantrell wrote that he hoped full operations would be restored within right months months.
In an update in late December, he reported repairs are moving along nicely.
"However, with $1.8 million in total damages it's a time consuming process to repair a 30,000 square foot facility.
"Butch May Contracting and their subcontractors have been working diligently. The outside of the building is completely repaired and the inside is about 75% completed. I would estimate that we're still several weeks to a month away from having all of our employees back onsite and we are taking the opportunity to do additional remodeling and updating throughout the facility. A portion of our employees are working out of a facility that we subleased from NARMC and we have partnered with Signature Bank and North Arkansas College to continue to provide space for our professional development training during this school year. Also, the sixteen member districts of the OUR Educational Cooperative have gone above and beyond to support us throughout this process."
