Rustic Ridge families organize 2-day back-to-school event for neighborhood kids

In her 20 years as a resident of Plum’s Rustic Ridge neighborhood, Jennifer Corson, a mother of three, had never seen an event like she saw Monday.

Another resident, Kristie Keller, organized a two-day back-to-school affair to help the area’s children prepare for their return to the classroom Wednesday while they also are coping with the Aug. 12 house explosion that claimed six lives.

“This is us wanting to take care of each other,” said Corson, who was painting and decorating girls’ nails during the event at the plan’s Ridgetop Park.

“I just have all the stuff,” she said. “I do my own. I have it. I can do it.”

Corson said residents have created several committees to make sure events like this, being held again Tuesday, continue throughout the year, making use of the park for occasions such as Halloween and Easter.

“Every day, I’m seeing new faces of neighbors I didn’t know I had,” she said. “It took a tragedy for us to come together.”

Keller has lived on Overbrook Terrace in Rustic Ridge for six years. Despite her family’s distance from the blast at 141 Rustic Ridge Drive, she said their house had some exterior cracks and issues with its windows.

Keller and her husband, Mark, have two sons, Max, 14, and Luke, 6.

“They’re OK,” she said of her sons. “They ask lots of questions. We’ve been keeping busy trying to help and keep our minds off it.”

Keller said she talked with Greg Renko, president of the Rustic Ridge Estates Homeowners Association, to put the back-to-school event for the neighborhood’s children together in four days.

In addition to Corson painting nails, it included free school supplies, a bounce house, crafts, face painting, pizza and Italian ice. The Pirate Parrot made an appearance.

There also were plenty of real animals. Among them was Zane, a golden retriever and comfort dog with the Pittsburgh police.

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Burton Farm brought animals including goats, sheep, a baby cow, a bunny, baby ducks, chickens and a pony, although some of the kids found their own animals in the form of toads.

“When the kids are up here, they’re having fun,” Keller said. “They’re just being kids. It takes their mind off it.”

Lori Altrudo said being with friends and the community has been most helpful for her children, Angelina, 11, and twins Sophia and Vincenzo, 10.

“They’re working their feelings out together,” she said.

Altrudo said windows on the back of her house on Rustic Ridge Drive will need to be replaced, but the damage to her home was minimal.

Corson thought her house was far enough away to not be damaged, but a crack was found on its side, running from the ground to its top. An inspector looked at it Monday and told them to have a structural engineer check it out. She said they were told anyone within a mile should have their house examined.

Corson and her husband, Jason, have two daughters, Caileigh, 19, and Gabby, 15, and a son, Logan, 11. The events of the past week since the explosion have helped dramatically, she said.

“They were afraid to be in the house. They were afraid to be away from me,” she said. “It just has them interacting with their friends and keeping their minds off everything.”

Mark Ionadi and his four kids weren’t home that day but were affected just the same. They were on their way home from a vacation in Florida.

Smoke from the explosion set off Ionadi’s doorbell camera.

“I was shocked,” he said. “You never think something like that could happen in your neighborhood.”

Ionadi said he and his children — Madison, 15, Hailey, 14, and twins Jordyn and Alyssa, 10 — spent the first two nights at his parents’ home in Penn Hills because staying in their house on Overbrook Terrace was too much for them.

He didn’t know of any damage to his house, but it is being checked anyway.

Ionadi said the community on Overbrook Terrace, where he has lived for eight years, is tightknit. They have a block party every year.

“There’s always been a sense of community but not to this extent,” he said. “This has been amazing.”

Sara Ivanco and her husband, Eric, have four children, Vyla, 5, Willow, 8, Evvie, 10, and Nolan, 12. Like the Ionadis, they also were on their way home from vacation that day, driving back from Ocean City.

Ivanco said they have been open with their kids about what happened. Her son, Nolan, knew Keegan Clontz, 12, one of the six who died.

“They are sad,” she said. “They know what happened.”

It was good to see Rustic Ridge’s children smiling, laughing and having fun on Monday. Ivanco said she loves the idea of keeping the togetherness going.

“This isn’t going away for any of us any time soon,” she said.