GREENSBURG, Kan. (ABP) — As Baptists in Greensburg, Kan., reeled from the loss of their church building — and virtually their entire town — a nearby Baptist college sent some of its top students to help with the recovery effort.
Two students and a professor from Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kan., went to Greensburg May 8 to serve as public-relations volunteers for the American Red Cross.
The town of about 1,500 was virtually wiped off the map May 4 by a monstrous tornado. The vortex — which the National Weather Service has said was more than a mile and a half wide as it passed through Greensburg — was the most intense to strike a populated area in the United States since the 1999 Oklahoma City tornado.
The storm killed 10 — including eight in Greensburg itself. According to multiple news reports and National Weather Service estimates, as much as 95 percent of the town was destroyed or seriously damaged.
The destruction included all of Greensburg's churches. According to American Baptist News Service, the First Baptist Church was “leveled” and its parsonage “sustained serious damage.”
However, the news agency said, pastor Marvin George had been able to locate almost all of his congregation, and said all were safe and unharmed.
“It is difficult to comprehend how great a loss has been suffered by the people of that community and by our brothers and sisters at First Baptist Church,” said John Williams, western area minister for American Baptist Churches of the Central Region. American Baptist officials were scheduled to meet May 8 to determine a response plan for assisting the church and community.
The volunteers from Ottawa University — an American Baptist School — were using their communications skills to help the Red Cross coordinate its disaster response, according to a May 10 university press release. As in many disasters, the Red Cross works with local, state and federal government agencies to respond to natural disasters.
Campus newspaper editor Nicole Lemons, fellow student Allison Small and newspaper advisor Kara Cunningham “were immediately put to work issuing press releases, answering emails and posting signs, along with other duties assigned by the Red Cross,” according to the release.
“You look around and the tallest thing you see is maybe eight feet high, and maybe a couple of trees. If I lived in Greensburg, I would have no idea where to start to rebuild my life,” Lemons said.
But, according to Cunningham, the town's spirit was strong. She spoke to a maintenance worker in front of the town's destroyed high school. “He had lost his home, but he was there, at the school, telling us how much he loved his job, what a great place Greensburg was to live, and how they were going to rebuild. It was amazing,” she said.
Ottawa officials said other students would join the trio, and that thy would continue to help with PR efforts even after the Red Cross's team of professionals left Greensburg. The school intends to offer course credit for the students, who, according to the release, “will be working on public service announcements/advertisements for securing supplies, donations, and volunteers for the town, as well as on additional stories coming out of the disaster.”
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