In Greensburg

I’m astounded every time I meet and talk to people in a disaster situation. That’s been true the past two years I’ve taken a class to Greensburg. From the people who volunteer to help rebuild homes and lives to those who lived through the tornado in May 2007 and are reconstructing their existence, it’s downright [...]

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Air mattresses and my body apparently aren’t made for each other. I tried my third air mattress in seven nights last night. It was inflated and fairly comfortable until about 2:30 this morning. Then it felt like I was sleeping on a noisy, deflated innertube. I think I must be getting the air mattresses from [...]

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Rob Walton says he’s not really one of Sam Walton’s sons, even though he occasionally jokes about it since one of the Waltons also is named Rob. He’s not related to the multi-billionaire, but he’s still looking for the branch, he quips. Walton and his wife Vera, pastor of the Lamont United Methodist Church in [...]

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Two or three of us were up early today to get a jump start on our Greensburg stories. I was awake shortly after 3 because my Coleman air mattress gradually deflated during the night. By 3:30, I was flat on the basement floor in the Sunday school classroom where we bunked. Figuring I could beat [...]

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It was a great two weeks in Kiowa County. I was amazed at some of the pieces the students produced on tornado recovery efforts in Greensburg and the surrounding communities. The people in the communities where we worked were extremely hospitable. I think the students’ eyes were opened not only to what happens in a [...]

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Some of the leaders of the recovery effort in Greensburg are willing to go to Parkersburg, Iowa, to share their experiences and expertise with townspeople there. An EF-5 tornado on May 25 killed at least seven people and destroyed 300 homes in Parkersburg. It’s a repeat of Greensburg, only on a smaller scale, says Matt [...]

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We’re back at work. Most of us returned to Haviland Sunday evening. We’re staying at Jackson Hall, a two-level building with four classrooms on the Barclay College campus. We’re occupying two of the classrooms, one upstairs and one downstairs. There’s no stairway connecting the floors, so the women, who are staying downstairs, have to come [...]

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We’re heading back to Wichita later today. We have to be out of the church by noon so a couple from Barclay College and their families can get ready for a wedding on Saturday. The rehearsal dinner is here tonight. Someone said they heard there were 10 weddings involving Barclay students at the church this [...]

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