Help for Greensburg

Unless you live under a rock, by now you've probably heard about the devastating tornado that destroyed 95% of the town of Greensburg, Kansas, last Friday night. It's so hard to imagine that an entire community could get wiped off the map in a matter of minutes. Looking at the pictures, it's hard to imagine people surviving at all. It seems like a miracle that only 11 or 12 people were killed. Praise God for basements.

In the wake of tragedies such as this, it's hard to know how to help the families in need. Especially in this era of email hoaxes and Internet scams, it seems naive to trust that every organization claiming to help is truly helping. An email circulated this week claiming that tomorrow, May 10th, Pizza Hut restaurants across the state of Kansas are donating 20% of profits to the United Way Greensburg Disaster Fund. One of my coworkers called the Pizza Hut Franchise Holders Association and confirmed that this was not a hoax. He talked to the woman who wrote the original email that's been floating around. She said that there might be a few select franchises not participating, but in most restaurants, you only had to request a donation be made to the Greensburg fund when you placed your order. I called our nearest Pizza Hut and confirmed the story as well. There was even a blurb about this special relief effort in the Topeka paper. So get Pizza Hut tomorrow night, everybody!!

There are lots of other ways you can help, but here are a few that don't involve buying pizza:

1) There is an organization called Heart to Heart which is accepting monetary gifts and care kits for the people of Greensburg, and they also have a good online guide to appropriate giving after a disaster. A local church in Lawrence (First Christian) is a collection site for these care kits, so you don't even have to mail them.

2) The KU Alumni Association is collecting "Green for Greensburg" all week out in front of the Adams Alumni Center. I'll be manning the booth there tomorrow from 1-2 p.m., so come by and see me if you're on campus!

3) The American Red Cross has a disaster relief fund for situations just like this one, and they'll accept donations at any time.

I'm sure all of those people who have lost everything in this tornado are hugely appreciative of the help from organizations such as Heart to Heart, the Red Cross and Pizza Hut, as well as hugely appreciative of our prayers!