News Cut: June 3, 2011 Archive

People lead way in NoMi tornado recovery (5X8 - 6/3/11)

Posted at 7:55 AM on June 3, 2011 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Five by 8

1) WHEN PEOPLE DO GOOD (Cont'd)

More stars have been added to a benefit to raise some money for tornado victims in north Minneapolis. Tickets go on sale today. MPR's Brandt Williams reports the General Mills Foundation has pledged $125,000 to tornado relief efforts in north Minneapolis. The city's effort to recruit some volunteers for a cleanup effort this weekend signed up the needed 2,000 people quickly. People respond to people. Period.

Mayor R.T. Rybak provided yesterday's cringe-worthy quote. "There's no other part of the country that I know of where a tornado could have come and there could have been a better coming together of community response."

We get it. A pat on the back well deserved. But people aren't any better or worse here than anywhere else, and it's not about comparing us to other people, anyway. Good people do good things. For the record, it was a private organization -- not the city -- that organized volunteers to move into north Minneapolis within minutes of the tornado nearly two weeks ago. It was a private citizen -- in New York, no less -- who created a Facebook page and Twitter account that became the go-to places for information. It was a group of nurses who went door to door this week looking for people who needed help with anxiety.

But it's not just here that people rise up. In New Jersey, for example, a woman realized disaster victims are getting lost in the news about stupid things, so she's set up a tent in her yard and is raising money for people she doesn't know. "I did it because I wanted to make a statement that I can choose to go camping for a couple of days in my yard," Berit Ollestad said. "But then when that's up, I have the choice to go back to my home -- and so many people don't have that choice."

In Joplin, a group of volunteers from Cedar Falls, Iowa has just shown up to pitch in. It's churches leading the way, a newspaper editor says.

In times of disaster, people will usually show politicians how compassion works. It's not as if they expect something for nothing. They just want the pols to lead, follow, or get out of the way...

Yesterday, Republican Sen. Scott Brown toured Springfield, Massachusetts, where a tornado struck on Wednesday. What did he think? "We need some federal disaster assistance," he said.

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