How Can Decatur Help Tornado Ravaged Georgia Towns?
Decatur Metro | May 5, 2011At the conclusion of Monday’s Decatur City Commission meeting, Mayor Floyd made mention of last week’s deadly night of tornadoes and the effect on dozens of small North Georgia towns, noting that in some places the entire downtown had been obliterated.
He closed by saying something along the lines of “Don’t be surprised if we come back to you soon with a plan to help out these folks.”
A great idea, which got me thinking “What COULD Decatur do to help out these communities?”
Other than just sending money, would we send teams of people to clean and/or rebuild? Dedicate planning resources to help rebuild downtown areas? (Is that even possible?)
What would you like to see happen?
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Related announcement: The DHS band is collecting supplies requested by the University of Alabama band director in Tuscaloosa for victims of tornado damage. They will also send supplies to Ringold, Georgia. They need gently used or new clothes, new underwear, new socks, Gatorade, and bottled water. Bring supplies to the band room today or during tonight’s free band, choir, and drama program at the DHS theater, featuring “Music from Childhood”.
Would it be possible to work with local groups in the affected areas to organize teams of people to travel from Decatur to the communities and help with cleanup, distributing supplies and doing some pro-bono healing work (chiropractors, massage therapists, energy healers, counselors, etc)? Working directly with local groups ensures we are providing what they need, rather than just sending a lot of stuff that might go unused. And we can also find out if there are people with particular skillsets (carpenters, plumbers, construction, etc) who might be interested in volunteering their time and effort.
We should also note that a number of small communities were also impacted east and north of Griffin and could use our help also. They have been left out of the news, although there were deaths there also. Two small communities are gone.
GEMA has put out the call for volunteers to come help with clean up this Saturday:
http://www.gemainfo.com/go/doc/759/1081687/Volunteers-Needed-for-Tornado-Clean-Up
Wow I’ve been dying to help out and feel like I’m sitting on my hands. What a great idea – not only a city of Decatur resource but also a community outreach plan. Great idea to focus in on communities with less national press. Maybe idea faceook pages can be created by people who spend the few hours to drive to local places that have been hit, report,, and we can focus on what would be helpful in the transition and report back. It’s a start?