Finding Hope after Disaster

In the wake of devastating tornadoes this past week, I have read through some sad stories of loss and destruction.  But I did find a few messages of hope, of courage in times of adversity.  They help us see good things can blossom from challenging circumstances ~ Please enjoy

Out of the Wreckage
A wave of tornadoes brings death, destruction—and selfless acts of bravery.
Reader's Digest June 2008
By Tara Conry, Fran Lostys, and Bridget Nelson Monroe

Greenville, Kentucky—The deadly tornadoes had swept through Greenville just days before, and as residents began to tally their losses, they wore the stunned looks of the traumatized.

But when the bright yellow bus pulled up beside the temporary Red Cross and FEMA stations, parents and kids alike perked up at the sight of the portrait on its side—a laughing baby boy who's giving the thumbs- up sign.

"Mommy," yelled one youngster, "I want to go on the bus with the happy boy!" Inside, the kids descended on arts and crafts, DVDs, and games—anything to distract them from the nightmare memories of howling winds and falling trees.

"It's incredible," says Kathryn Martin, 29, who had driven the bus more than 70 miles, from Evansville, Indiana. "They just go off into la-la land; they can be kids again."

The mobile day-care center is named for Martin's little boy, C.J., who was killed along with two other family members when a tornado struck their town in 2005. He was two years old. The idea of helping other twister victims came to her in May 2006, after a tornado blasted Otwell, Indiana. Martin and a friend headed to the scene, and she spent the day with a family who had lost their home, soothing the kids simply by coloring with them.

"From then on," says Martin, who is married with three children, "we knew we had to do something."

After donations of more than $120,000, C.J.'s Bus was launched in August 2007 and two months later made its maiden voyage to Owensboro, Kentucky, for tornado relief.

Martin says she can think of no greater legacy for her son than to help children recover from the trauma of a tornado. "This bus is not about me, and it's not about C.J. anymore," she says. "It's about those next people we're going to help."

Tornado's Gifts: Greensburg Rebuilds, Revitalizes
NPR.com
by Frank Morris

Many people in Greensburg, Kan., say that when their town was hit by last year's tornado, it was something of a gift. Residents there have worked furiously during the past year not only to revitalize the once-dying town, but also to rebuild it in a way that is both economically and environmentally sustainable.

As President Bush visits Sunday, one year after one of the most powerful tornados on record obliterated the small town, he'll find an amazing revitalization. Wind turbines, dozens of houses, and some of the world's most environmentally friendly buildings have sprouted where the tornado left only heaving, splintered rubble.

The city has committed to rebuilding "LEED Platinum," the highest standard awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council. That's no mean feat for what had been a faltering, cash-strapped little town before the licking it took from an EF5 tornado.

"The town was wiped out, but the community was not. And the community is indeed stronger than ever," says Daniel Wallach, who launched an organization to promote the green building initiative here. Wallach credits the success entirely to the community buy-in.

"These people are very used to being guided by values. You know, you don't live in western Kansas if money is all you care about, or prestige," Wallach says.

He says he believes that residents' selfless spirit vaulted this conservative little town into the forefront of the environmental movement. "I think you're going to see a state of the art, living laboratory."

Building a 'New Normal'

This weekend, the first shop to rebuild on Main Street officially opened its doors.

Greensburg's churches, all 11 of them destroyed in the tornado, pulled together to get the thrift store and food pantry open before any of them were rebuilt. And, while the building looks normal enough, Ted Kyle says it's super-efficient.

"What we had before, we couldn't hardly afford to heat and cool. It's just so much better than it ever was before, but we get to build a new normal. We get to build a new normal. I think that's exciting," Kyle says.

"We live in exciting times here in Greensburg, and we need to be moving boldly into the future," says Mayor-elect Bob Dixson. He surveys that movement from the broad front porch of his brand new house.

Achieving Platinum Certification

Students from the University of Kansas are working on a shoebox-shaped building, sheathed in green glass, shading wood recycled from an old ammunition plant. It's a new community art center, powered by sun, wind and heat from inside the earth.

The project is designed to LEED Platinum specifications, and it has been a learning experience for everybody, including professor Dan Rockhill.

"How tough is it go get a LEED Platinum certification? It's borderline impossible," Rockhill says.

Undaunted, at the John Deere farm-implement dealership, proprietor Kelley Estes says they are rebuilding LEED Platinum, too.

"Shops waste a lot of energy, like mine — tractor shops, combine shops. We're going to show how they can build them shops way more — have a payback for them all across the country. Well, if you do that all across the country, it's not just Greensburg that's paying back, it's the whole country," Estes says.

John Deere is making the store here a national model for the way dealerships should be built — just as Greensburg itself may prove to be a prototype for building communities sturdy enough to hold up against this century's crop of environmental, economic and social challenges.

Source: Reader's Digest, and NPR.com