Steve Kitts, owner of JSO Wood Products, stands on newly installed flooring and under a new roof on the home of his business.
The framed-out walls and no product inside the space is different from the water-soaked product and holes in the roof of last year, after a tornado tore into the business.
“Everybody’s been patient,” Kitts said. “The roof was the most frustrating part. We couldn’t get a roof on here…Nothing can happen until that roof’s on.”
The roof was just installed within the last four to six weeks. Kitts said the new windows and flooring came quickly after. He said they could have been back home sooner but more bad weather and legal setbacks delayed plans.
But now pictures are organized on the floor to direct movers where to bring the product which Kitts said will happen soon.
“We had 27 years of garbage in this place that needed to be thrown away, things that had just piled up,” Kitts said. “So, we got rid of a lot of that, so we get to start with a blank shell.”
Kitts has remained positive through the process, as his company has continued work in another facility.
“I was pretty confident early on,” Kitts said. “It will all get rebuilt. It will be new. We’ll get a fresh start.”
Another business near Kitts’ hasn’t been as lucky. A concrete slab is left of what used to be a daycare. A year ago, the tornado tore off the roof.
Kitts said the damage forced that business to move out.
He said the community has really picked him up throughout the last year, even money coming from complete strangers in the mail.
“She said, ‘I want you to have lunch on me.’ and just the sweetest message. I was having a really bad day,” said Kitts, holding back tears. “So, it lifted my spirits.”
Kitts said he hopes his business will be back in the facility in the next few months.
