May 1, 2012 ~ Official first day with HLTDR
HLTDR = Holton Long Term Disaster Recovery. Tried to hit the
ground running but seemed to have shoes with zero traction. Wanted to get
rocking and rolling by 10am and it was more like 1pm before I could even say
the phrase “rocking and rolling” much less put it into practice. Oh well,
everyone runs on a different clock /schedule and mine just happened to be
running at a little faster pace than others.
Got keys to the office that we will be operating out of and was
able to sit down at a donated desk, in a donated chair, with donated power /
air conditioning, and turn on my laptop to connect to donated Wi-Fi. All in
all, it’s a nice setup to operate from. It will certainly get crowded from time
to time but I think that the 3 of us (Case Manager, Donations/Volunteer
Coordinator, and Construction Manager) will most likely run on different
schedules at different times of the day. I will most likely be the early bird
with only a few evenings for meetings where the other 2 will certainly need to
be running in the late afternoon / evening to connect with people after work. I
may be totally wrong in my assumptions (I usually am) but time will tell.
So far, I’ve met the Case Manager, Cynthia Melton, who is a
retired school teacher and a long-time resident of Holton. We had the
opportunity to have a brief discussion and she is very nice and seems to be
extremely patient. Her experience and expertise on the local residents and
their needs will prove to be invaluable, I’m sure. I have very briefly met the
other member of the Three Amigos, Philip Deiwert, at the Construction Training
that I attended a little over a week ago in Henryville. He also seems like a
very nice young man and I’m sure that the 3 of us will get along very well. It
seems like we all have our hearts in the same place, putting the needs of
others ahead of our own, which is really a refreshing change of pace to my
normal day to day experiences and interactions. PTL.
Tonight we all have a series of meetings with FEMA, Indiana
Association of United Ways (IAUW), along with some funding organizations and
the local advisory board for Holton’s recovery efforts. The meetings are
progressive and add members as the evening goes on. So, I am sure I will get to
hear some information twice or even three times. That’s ok. Being as
thick-headed as I am, I need to hear things more than once sometimes for it to
stick. I’ll add more later this evening after the meetings are over. As I said
in a Facebook post earlier today, “Looks like it’s going to be a LONG day.”
Someone responded with, “And you are loving every minute of it, aren’t
you?” Why, yes…yes, I am. Better than
blessed. :D
God has a great sense of humor! Don’t you agree??? While we are waiting for folks to arrive for
these meetings tonight, there is a tornado watch issued for the area…quickly
followed by a TORNADO WARNING and SIRENS for two communities just north of here
(Batesville and Greensburg). Needless to say, everyone in Holton was a bit “on
edge” when the telephone calls started hitting everyone’s cell phones alerting
each other to the possible danger. As
quickly as it showed up, and after one brief touch-down in Decatur county, it
was all over…just a lot of rain now. ;-)
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