Kiwanis Helps With Disaster Relief
Many of your clubs have donated money or supplies to Joplin or to the Joplin Kiwanis Club. Thank you for all of your generosity.
The news continues to be full of heart-breaking and heart-warming stories about Joplin. Division 12 Lt. Governor Don Davis stated that the death toll has risen to 151 as some of the hospitalized citizens have died, including the police officer who was struck by lightning. We now know that in addition to the Joplin Kiwanis member who lost a son, two other members lost grandsons. The 2010-11 President of my club was transferred to Joplin one week before the tornado and “rode the tornado out” in a bathtub as his house was destroyed around him. Fortunately, his wife and baby were still in St. Louis. You may have seen John Gollihugh on CNN on May 29 as fellow employees thanked him for saving their lives at the Dillon’s store.
Like the rest of you, Don Davis has a huge servant heart. Don has assumed the responsibility of coordinating the donations from Kiwanis Clubs throughout our district and the nation, and it has turned into a huge job because Kiwanians have huge hearts. We are extremely lucky to have Don on the ground because he knows the area and has many contacts that can facilitate the relief effort. Every time that I call Don to ask if he can do one more thing, his answer is always,”Yes; you bet.”
This past week, Ann Torcivia, President of the Kiwanis Club of Levittown, New York, emailed that her club was filling a tractor trailer full of supplies to send to Joplin. I sent her Don’s contact information. Later she called to say how grateful she was to work with Don. She had called the major relief organizations, and they told her that they had stopped accepting supplies and were requesting only money. Don was able to find a place to accept the supplies for future distribution. Members of the club plan to drive the tractor trailer to Joplin themselves on an upcoming weekend.
Don reports having received over $3000 in money donations for Joplin, including $582 from the Georgetown, TX, club, who passed the hat and collected that amount of money. A Key Club in Texas has contacted Don indicating that they plan to hold a car show and donate the proceeds to Joplin. Thank you, NY and Texas-Oklahoma. Thank you to all the Mo-Ark Kiwanis Clubs that have donated so generously, through Don, through the Joplin club, and through relief organizations. Don is going to meet with the Kiwanis Club of Joplin Board of Directors next week as they decide how to spend the money donated to the club in the best way to benefit the citizens of Joplin.
The Columbia Boonslick Kiwanis Club has proposed an Interim Kiwanis 3-Day, IK3D (in between Kiwanis One Days). They propose going to Joplin for a work weekend; travel could be coordinated, perhaps even getting a bus company to furnish a bus that could pick up Kiwanis members along the way. Don says that there is still much clean-up work to be done, and he is looking for accommodations and clean-up efforts accepting volunteers. I will send more details as they are available. Don cautions that anyone planning to work in Joplin should bring paper masks because of the dust and debris, heavy work gloves, and heavy shoes because of the danger of stepping on or picking up nails or other sharp items that may cause injury and infection.
Again, thank you to everyone for your servant hearts; thank you to hero John Gollihugh; and thank you to Division 12 Lt. Governor Don Davis for your continued yeoman’s service. I may have said this once or twice before…Kiwanians are the BEST!
Please email what your club is doing to help out with disaster relief to millss@nlrsd.org so we can include your good works on this page.
Barb Thompson
