Greensburg Pictures 6/27/07

To All,

As promised, here are the pictures from yesterday’s Caravan to Greensburg. The pictures are:

1. The Caravan Crew at 6:30AM yesterday morning (before the 643 Mile Trip) at Red Bridge United Methodist Church
2. The Pack and Troop 211 members that greeted us in Greensburg in front of what is left of the Scout Building (this is EXACTLY WHY we MUST continue to work towards our goal)
3. The Scout Trailers before moving them to storage at Bob Wedel’s new storage shed that was being re-constructed.
4. The Scout Trailers in line at Bob Wedel’s new storage shed that is being rebuilt. Bob is the Lakota District Commissioner, Pack Cubmaster and Troop Committee Chairman.
5. Most houses in Greensburg are still untouched, because of the massive clean up that has to take place. The first step was to clear the debris from the streets, which took weeks – then the next step was to bring what debris you could out to the curb. This process is still going on.
6. The East side of the Scout Building – Note: look at the devastation behind it (to the west of the Scout Building). The 100 year old trees are gone – all small limbs on the trees in the 3 square miles of devastation are gone, and all trees are approximately 20-25 feet tall now. As you can see, the Scout Building – made of formidable granite and stone – is almost gone.
7. Old Glory – reminding us that even in the face of adversity - “Our Flag Was Still There . . . “ you can’t imagine how many flags we saw flying where houses once stood . . .
8. The Largest Hand Dug Well in the World – Greensburg’s pride and joy. Right now – it is deemed unsafe until inspectors are able to certify it. It is not a high priority at this time . . .
9. Look at downtown Greensburg. Notice the Grain Elevator in the background. Bob Wedel and his wife live 2 miles southwest of the Grain Elevator. Before the tornado, they could not even see the top of the Elevator because of the large trees obstructing the view. Now – all they have to do is stand in their yard, look to the northeast, and they get a full view of the entire grain elevator – 2 miles away.
10. Another look at the devastation in downtown Greensburg.

Folks, I took 118 pictures, and would gladly provide any of you a CD of them. They are all shot in RAW Format – so they will have to be converted from 16-Bit to 8-Bit, then saved as jpeg format (like the 10 I have sent you – including the 4 in this email). It may take awhile to change all of them, but I would gladly do it. They are ALL 8MB in size (I’ve been a photographer for a long time – so I like RAW format) and they would choke the email system if I sent them without converting them.

During our 16 Square Block tour yesterday, we learned some things . . .

1. Almost all of the power poles and power lines were gone in a matter of seconds. They have no power, and won’t any time soon (weeks, if not months). All of the debris has to be cleared first.
2. Water and Gas lines are now operational, but that is little consolation – as the water lines are still flooding the exposed basements, making them dangerous pools. Some gas lines are still not capped yet because of the massive debris that is still very prevalent and hiding the gas leaks.
3. 90% of the houses damaged are still left untouched. That’s how much devastation they had.
4. Out of the 88 businesses in Greensburg, almost all were gone in a matter of seconds.
5. Their Fire Department (FEMA Provided), is as big as a small city right now. This replaced the Volunteer Fire Department that was wiped out.
6. Their emergency plan was this: In the event of a disaster, here is the order of storm shelters: a). Gymnasium (GONE) b). Community Center (GONE) c). Basement of Baptist Church (GONE) - In fact, all the Churches in Greensburg were leveled by the storm.
7. When President Bush visited Greensburg, he went into the crowds – something Presidents just don’t do for security reasons. He waited and talked with everyone who wanted to talk to him – and promised his support. FEMA and The Salvation Army have done an OUTSTANDING JOB – according to our tour guide.
8. No rebuilding can take place until electricity is reestablished. Electricity cannot be reestablished until the debris is hauled off and burned. This will take months. (Remember the 3-Year Plan for funding the Troop and Pack? It will take that long for families to get fully back on their feet)
9. Curfew is STILL 10PM-8AM, and will be for quite some time. NO ONE is to be on the streets after 10PM. There is a large representative of police departments from all around an 8-State Region constantly patrolling the city, and the National Guard’s Temporary HQ is on what is left of the Football Field.
10. All Schools are gone – their Insurance Company just wrote a check for $16.4 Million to replace the 3 schools – the largest check this Insurance Provider had ever written.
    

There’s more – the remaining 110 pictures tell the story. All I know is that we MUST RAISE THE REMAINING MONEY TO HELP OUR FELLOW SCOUTS, AND THE SOONER, THE BETTER! If you saw what the 17 of us saw yesterday, you would absolutely agree.

Again, here is where we are at: (equipment phase 1A is complete for the most part – Scout Shirts and current Scout Books are STILL NEEDED – Both Boy Scout AND Cub Scout)

Cash Raised so far in the past 6 weeks: $10,255.05 ($7,300 already delivered on 6/14/07)

Goal: $25,500.00

Goal Shortfall: $15,244.95

Again, here is the address for donations:

Greensburg Scout Relief Fund “Scouts Helping Scouts”
5510 NE Antioch Road
PMB 311
Kansas City, MO 64119
Attn: Jeffrey Cook

Checks need to be made payable to: “Quivira Scout Council”, with the comment line “Troop/Pack 211 Relief Fund.”

Please – look at the pictures, then look in your hearts . . . and if you can give, please consider doing so. They need our help, and it can’t come fast enough. One thing, though – most Residents are (as they wrote on their homes) “HERE TO STAY!” Greensburg will survive – let’s continue to give their Legacy of Scouting Service a fighting chance to survive as well. That is a promise all of us made to Bob Wedel and his Scouts and Leaders yesterday.

On behalf of the PLC of Troop 1900, thank you so much for helping us help them! Your kind emails and words of encouragement have been passed on to our Scouts, as well to the Scouts of Greensburg. Yesterday, we proudly told them that we not only represent Troop 1900 - but proudly represent the Units of the Heart of America Council, and our Scouting Friends in 26 States. This is “SCOUTS HELPING SCOUTS!”

God Bless Each and Every One of You! You all are the best . . .

LET’S SPREAD THE WORD!!!

Yours in Scouting,
---
Jeffrey A. “Yogi” Cook
Scoutmaster, Boy Scout Troop 900
North Oak Christian Church
9900 North Oak Trafficway
Kansas City, MO 64155
Heart of America Council, BSA
scouter@kc.rr.com
" . . . And a Good 'Ole Antelope, Too!" C-29-99