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Washington, DC - Following widespread flooding in Kansas and Missouri and a devastating tornado in Kansas that essentially wiped out a community, AmeriCorps members were quick on the scene to help with recovery efforts – and more are on the way.
A St. Louis AmeriCorps team of 15 members, led by program director Bruce Bailey, has arrived in Greensburg, KS, where more than 90 percent of the buildings were destroyed by a tornado last week. The AmeriCorps members are supporting efforts by the Salvation Army and FEMA, including coordinating responders and serving in shelters where residents have been staying since the tornado struck.
Bailey, a veteran of dozens of disasters over the last 15 years, said the Greensburg site is among the worst he has seen. Because of the level of destruction, “household hazardous waste and chemicals are everywhere. There are some houses that miraculously made it, but every single business was destroyed, and there are no services of any type,” Bailey said.
After Bailey’s request for additional AmeriCorps help, an AmeriCorps NCCC team from the Denver campus is being deployed to the area. The team is scheduled to arrive by tomorrow evening.
In preparation for AmeriCorps Week, May 13 to 20, the St. Louis AmeriCorps members had planned to participate in a Habitat for Humanity AmeriCorps build-a-thon in the Gulf Coast, where so many of the organization’s members have been deployed for the last two years. “We had to change our focus from participating in Biloxi for these pressing issues,” Bailey said.
In Missouri, meanwhile, six other AmeriCorps St. Louis members are staffing a hotline designed to coordinate volunteers and offers of donated goods that are pouring in following devastating floods. Those affected by the storm may also contact the number to receive referrals and answers to questions. The hotline was initially set up in the winter after the state was struck by ice storms. Once the crisis was over, state emergency officials asked the AmeriCorps St. Louis organization to staff the hotline in future incidents. The donation lines are staffed from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and messages will be returned. The hotline number is 888/377-2100.
AmeriCorps is administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, which also oversees Senior Corps and Learn and Serve America. The Corporation’s mission is to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering. For more information, visit http://www.nationalservice.gov.
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