Storm shelter a key part of camp's learning center - KTIV News 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

Though Camp Goodwill was closed to kids during the summer of 2011, it was open to construction workers. 

During those tough summer flood months, crews built the 12,000 square foot Achievement Center. There's a dining room, commercial kitchen, amphitheater, and plenty of room for activities.

The building also serves as a storm shelter. The foot thick doors and storm windows are tornado proof.

The roof was an inevitable part of the project and response to the Little Sioux Boy Scout camp tornado that killed four scouts in 2008.

"We had an individual that lives on the campground here with his family. It was a 13-year-old that walked into the tornado and came back scared, came back knowing that four of his friends that he walked into the building with, didn't come out again," said Goodwill Industries VP of Programming Sunny Kellen.

That 13-year-old scout is now a 17-year-old lifeguard at the Camp Goodwill.

The shelter was built to withstand 250 mile per hour winds.

There's no one more relieved to have a safe place to go when the weather turns ugly.

"Little Sioux is just the first, and is just a wake-up call that everyone kind of needed, sadly. I hate to say it, but it probably will happen again," said Brian Moore.

Goodwill hopes to be able to use it for specialized camps, like music or theater, during other times of the year.