Thanks for all the well wishes we’ve gotten over the last few days. Ron and I and all of the animals are fine. If you haven’t heard, Harveyville was hit by an EF-2 tornado late Tuesday night. We had no warning there was a tornado coming. There was a thunderstorm warning and a regional tornado watch underway, but that’s pretty much the standard here all spring, and February isn’t really considered tornado season yet.
Ron just happened to be standing in the front hall when it swept by, and he actually saw our old motel chairs get sucked off the front porch (they landed in the city park behind the school). We had some roof damage to the grade school and lost a good chunk of our quirky handmade fence, but we’re in great shape, especially compared to the awful damage suffered by so many Harveyville residents.
If you haven’t seen the the images on the news, it’s pretty devastated here. Many, many homes were utterly destroyed. We’ve had a lot of volunteer help coming into town, and they’ve done an amazing job helping with the cleanup. If you want to volunteer, you can get info at unitedwaytopeka.org. There’s a great system in place and the Red Cross is feeding volunteers 3 meals a day. If you live nearby and plan to pitch in, you have to go to Mission Valley School. They’re making everyone register, both for safety and liability issues, and because they town has to carefully track all volunteer help received if they apply for aid in the future–and because we are a tiny town and there’s just not much room here. They’re busing volunteers in from the school (not us; the current school).
There are many people who lost everything. If you want to donate:
Monetary Donations are being collected through United Way of the Flint Hills. Donations can be made online using a credit card at www.uwfh.org and clicking the Donate Now link. Donations can be sent to United Way of the Flint Hills, Attn Harveyville Tornado Relief Fund, 702 Commercial St., Suite 2-Ej, Emporia, 66801. Phone number is: (620) 342-7564
The nearby city of Burlingame is organizing a donation drive here.
And for all who have asked, yes, Yarn School is still on!