It seems like only yesterday that I published my last blog. Time flies it seems when you are ill. Yes, I succumbed to the good ole coryza last week. It was bestowed upon me by either my current wife, Sue or Debby, the younger. They both have had various forms of catarrh over the last couple of weeks. As far as coryza go, mine was fairly tolerable and lasted about 4 days. I just could not get into the blogging mood. Unfortunately, I am better and feeling bloggy - here goes.
Yes, it is "Trash Tuesday" - enough said about that.
I am, however, not completely done with our local city and/or county officials. We were fortunate to be invited to the "Signs of Progress" event Saturday night. There is a coalition of public officials organizing this. This is a new push to keep Cedar Rapidians informed as to the progress of "flood recovery". More accurately, to keep us informed of the progress of the downtown businesses, public and civic projects - not the rebuilding effort of the thousands of damaged or destroyed homes. Saturday was to kick off this effort and to honor those individuals, companies, public groups and etc. who have been deeply involved in the flood recovery efforts to date. The attendees were a who's who of local, state and national politicians, movers & shakers and honorees. Very nice event. The organizers spent a considerable amount of effort writing a feel good script describing the honorees and presented each group with a custom made sculpture.
This event came off as a pat on the back for the downtowners, insiders and monied leaders. Why they invited these church volunteer leaders as honorees is beyond my comprehension. Maybe it was someones after thought. Under the "Community Heroes" section, the Inter-Religious Council of Linn County received an award. This, as I understand, was the bucket that the thousands of local and out of state church group volunteers fell into. The script had a couple of sentences, no facts, no figures, no mention of who made this Council up - despite having provided such information to the organizers. This presentation was one of the last of the night which was no accident. I was very disappointed that the residential rebuilding effort was trivialized so much. There were thousands of homes damaged or destroyed as a result of this flood. Thousands upon thousands of volunteers have come into Cedar Rapids to help rebuild these homes, none of whom are seeking recognition.
As an example, our church led by members including my current wife were VERY instrumental in organizing and executing a flood recovery program which has rebuilt and rehabbed hundreds of homes on the west side of Cedar Rapids. Our church converted a gym & classrooms into a volunteer host sight and is in its third year. We may be the last host sight remaining. The last I knew, we had hosted about 4,000 volunteers from 35 states. The number of volunteer hours is unknown but is in the tens of thousands. Shoot, our church members have volunteered nearly as much. Fantastic effort not only by our church but all of the churches in Cedar Rapids/Marion area. Much of the home rebuilding would not have happened without these "Community Heroes".
Our church's story is not particularly unique. Many churches jumped in and helped get these homes rebuilt using whatever resources they had available to them. It is just unfortunate that these people and organizations didn't receive some thanks for their efforts. To me it is indeed heartwarming and reminds me that there are a lot of people willing to help people in need.
I know from a personal standpoint, having had both daughters flooded out, that their recovery would not have happened without the huge number of friends, co-workers, and church volunteers. We had never suffered a loss like this. We found the recovery task overwhelming. We had never needed to accept help from anyone before and it was difficult to accept. However, we would never had been able to get these losses recovered without all of the help we received. There are not enough words to express adequately the gratitude we feel for their efforts. It was AWESOME! But ours is only one example. This was repeated thousands of times throughout our city.
I am reminded again and again that government, be it local, regional, state or federal should stick to its core business of safety, protection, and governing. We would be such a better community, state, country and world.
Did I mention that we were given the "opportunity" to order one of these statues for a mere $150.00. I haven't sent our form in yet. Probably won't either. I probably shouldn't be so critical but I haven't had a good rant in a while. As I am beginning to come out of the fog of the coryza and letting the French Roast do its magic, I am feeling a little feisty I guess.
Enough is enough, so off to get some breakfast. Seems as though I worked up an appetite. TA!
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