PARKERSBURG - Aaron Kampman heard the news. Then he came running.

After hearing that his grandfather and inlaws were in the line of destruction left by Sunday's tornado - the second deadliest in the state of Iowa since 1950 - Kampman and his wife, Linde, jumped in their car and began pounding pavement at 5 a.m. Monday.

Upon arrival to the site of his old high school, Kampman, now a Green Bay Packer, couldn't believe the carnage. The landscape looked a little like the set of "War of the Worlds": Trees all throughout the town of roughly 2,000 residents were snapped like twigs. Grain elevators were mashed and mangled, like tin cans. Insurance companies' catastrophe trucks lined the business district.

Still, after two days of manning a chainsaw and removing trees and rubble, Kampman has a pep-talk for Parkersburg:

"There's so much devastation, you can't look at the big picture," said Kampman, a native of nearby Kesley. "You've got to look at the small victories. That's been (the residents') rallying cry."

After being overjoyed that his extended family was spared from true peril - Claas Kampman, 71, is stabilizing in a Waterloo hospital after being "injured pretty good" - Aaron Kampman feels compelled to help others who were far less fortunate in this ravaged area.

"The Packers are going to do something (to fund raise)," said Kampman, a 1998 Aplington-Parkersburg graduate, speaking late Tuesday in a phone interview while traveling to Green Bay.

"This is an opportunity," Kampman added, "to get as much help (from) all the different circles of influence that people like myself have found themselves in."

Few people were probably thinking of sports Tuesday, as SUVs were fork-lifted away for scrap-metal just east of Ed Thomas Field, where Kampman was once a star linebacker. Yet, in the proud football community of Parkersburg, which has produced four NFL players in the last 15 years, lessons learned in sports might just serve as a saving grace in the weeks ahead.

"As a community, this is a tremendous opportunity to draw close," said Kampman, a two-time NFL Pro Bowler. "It's easier to fight back-to-back than on your own.

"The neat thing is, I was driving through town this afternoon," he added, "and I saw some American flags raised in the rubble. And I saw hope. You saw people hugging in the streets and pulling together.

"That's what I'm talking about: Small victories."

Kampman has urged those interested in aiding relief efforts to make a donation at Lincoln Savings Bank in Aplington, by calling (800) 588-7551.

Contact Kelly Beaton at (319) 291-1456 or kelly.beaton@wcfcourier.com