May 28 -- Day 4

A sign of hope for us all.

This is (was) my high school.  All the high school kids have been busy trying to clean up debris on the site.  Today, the football players took a break from cleaning up the school to dig graves in the cemetary for a couple who was killed in the tornado.  These kids are having to grow up pretty fast and are doing a great job.

The high school team is called the Aplington-Parkersburg Falcons.  Here's a salute to the A-P Falcons.

This is the house I grew up in.  As you can see, it is in perfect condition.  The houses at the end of the block are not in as good shape.

This is the city park where we had our school picnics at the end of every year in elementary school.
Here's what we see a lot of here: media and National Guard

So, today is my second day here (3 days since the tornado).  I "borrowed" two high school girls (although they were so sweet, I wanted to keep them, not just "borrow" them) to help with some communication efforts as well as taking some photos for this blog.  I really wanted to see this scene from their perspective.

Thanks Emma and 'Biz for the photos.  I stuck in a few of my own, too.

I started today at the Command Center gathering information from the county sheriff regarding debris collection and disposal.  The key message for the day was safe and efficient clean-up of debris.  My "borrowed" helpers and I made packets of information.  One of the offices on Main Street brought in a gasoline generator so we used the computer and copier in their office.

Some of the packets went to the sheriff for distribution.  I literally just drove up and down the streets looking for media representatives and gave them the packets in advance of a town hall meeting this morning.  Emma and 'Biz stood outside the church where the town hall meeting was being held (town hall is a pile of rubble now) and passed out the packets.  Several hundred of them went to the Disaster Center (which up until this week was the Vet's Building).

Homeowners have pretty much retrieved as much from the rubble as they're going to. Although tonight at dinner I heard a heartwarming story from a woman who graduated with my younger sister.  Late this afternoon as they were beginning to remove the remains of the home, their dog scrambled out from under a piece of debris where she'd been stuck since Sunday night.

We've formed a community committee to try and address some of the immediate needs but also put in place some plans for the long haul.  Our main goal right now is to direct the funds that are coming in to the people who need them.  .... so many logistics, so few resources (sigh).