MENDON, Mo. — One hundred and seventy one people call Mendon, Missouri, home, but all though the town is small, their hearts are big.
A year after a deadly Amtrak derailment in Mendon, the community is reflecting on how they helped hundreds of people who found themselves in their small town.
“It kind of has faded away, but I still will have the vision of the injured coming off of buses, and ambulances leaving, helicopters leaving with the injured," said Carol Ann Wamsley, who lives in Mendon. "That is burnt into your memory."
It was a meeting at a crossroads that Wamsley says she vividly remembers one year later.
“If I’m at a crossing, I kind of have that fear, especially if it's an Amtrak first, and it brings back the scars that we seen that day and the misfortune," Wamsley said. ”I never want to have to witness it again, but in any tragedy or emergency, everything that we could do to make everyone comfortable and safe again.”
Thinking back, Wamsley can visualize coming to the aid of so many, handing out wash cloths, medicine and even toys and stuffed animals for children that were on board the Amtrak.
Wamsley says it's that kindness in her community that keep Mendon rolling.
“So many of them asked us, where we are. Well, you’re in Mendon, Missouri. And they said where is that? All they knew is they were abandoned in a wreckage in a corn field,” Wamsley said. “ I felt sorry for them because I got to thinking, what if that were me?”
Months after the derailment, Wamsley says her town received a thanks they did not expect.
She says Amtrak donated $25,000 to the school in Mendon, along with another $25,000 to Chariton County. Amtrak also donated $5,000 to the Mendon Community Better.
In addition, Wamsley said $2,500 was donated by a family who had loved ones on board, and it’s a gratitude she says is felt across the few streets in Mendon.
“They’re family, they are brothers and sisters, and we have to help take care of one another and that’s what we have tried to show,” Wamsley said.
One year later, Wamsley hopes those she helped on the train will always come back, but more importantly show the world the importance of community and kindness in Mendon.
“A quiet little town, but it’s a very busy little town," Wamsley said. “I won’t say it put us on the map, but now people know small town America still lives.”
According to Wamsley, everyone who was on the train is now a part of Mendon community.
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