Student Group Tackles Greensburg Rebuild For Spring Break
By Heidi Nelson
May 2008
Sun and sand or wind and dirt? Swimsuits or dirty jeans? Sleeping in or sleeping on a gym floor? Cancun or Greensburg, Kansas? For over 50 Washburn University students and sponsors, their spring break choice was not the luxury of relaxation, but the satisfaction of hard work serving others. From March 16-22,Washburn’s Christian Challenge, a Southern Baptist campus ministry, partnered with Washburn’s LINC (Learning in the Community) and the Disaster Response Team for a week of volunteer work in Greensburg, rebuilding after a May 2007 tornado destroyed 95% of the town.
Nearly 11 months later, there is still much work to be done, but seeing the destruction first hand is humbling. The students had many different tasks over the five days they worked. The first day in Greensburg they got a tour of the town and more information on the path of the tornado and the work that has been done so far. Most of the group then worked to clear debris from a lot- a task that was frequently done through out the week because there was always stuff to be picked up or moved to the street to be taken to the trash.
On Tuesday, the group was given a brick house and tasked with tearing out the insides- walls, floors, and broken rafters. The dust flew as the debris pile outside the garage grew taller and taller.
After finishing up the demolition of the interior of the house on Wednesday, the group split up for other jobs. One group roofed a house for the rest of the week while another group did more demolition on another house just outside of town. Other groups did more debris pick up at a few more lots. One of the highlights of Wednesday was watching the new water tower go up.
On Thursday and Friday there was more demolition, more roofing, more clean-up, some carpet laying, and finally some building- a garage and closets.
Thursday night, a dinner was held for volunteers and residents of Greensburg. A small group of students volunteered to provide music for the dinner after the original band couldn’t make it. The students sang worship songs and some popular songs for the crowd during dinner. Film crews from the Discovery Channel filmed the dinner and other events through the week for a documentary premiering this summer on the new Planet Green channel.
After five days of hard work, five nights of sleeping on the Haviland High School gym floor, and countless loads of debris picked up, the students headed back to Topeka on Good Friday. But there is lots more work to be done and a group of students has already made plans to return for another week
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