Group Assists Chapman
by Bev Mortimer
Ag Sponsored Trip to ChapmanJoe Fisher, CHS
Agriculture Instructor organized a group of Concordia students,
teachers and parents to travel to Chapman to assist with the
ongoing clean-up from the recent tornado. The CHS group was met by
the Chapman Ag. Instructor, and several others. The group
thought they were going to help pick up debris in fields outside
Chapman, but were given a different assignment upon arrival.
Wood flooring was removed from the second level of the
Methodist Church. The work was extremely hard and required
the use of crow bars, hammers, shovels and a lot of determination
and sweat.
Comments from some of the group members:
From Joe Fisher: "I was very impressed with our kids, they worked extremely hard without complaining once. The biggest reaction was awe, with the amount of damage that was done. It is hard to believe that they are going to be using some of the school buildings next year."
From Cindy Kocher: "The people of Chapman were very thankful for our assistance. We were thankful for the opportunity to help. It appeared that many man hours have already been spent cleaning. Several workers with the natural Disaster Relief Program said that Chapman is ahead of schedule because of all the volunteer groups that have helped, which is not the case everywhere. We took a break around noon and toured the high school. We were surprised by the amount of damage done, and can't imagine them being ready to start school in over a month. They said the elementary school is much worse."
From Kim Sprague: "I have never personally seen anything like it. Kept thinking we need to return and help more. Anytime workers volunteer time, the town will receive monetary government reimbursement, if I understood correctly. The students were very quiet as they worked hard. I think they were surprised at the enormity of it all. They were glad to be helping in some small way. We walked around what was left of the high school. All of us were very thankful to have such great facilities to return to in the fall. The struggles of mold and construction of putting AC units last year seemed like nothing."
USD 333 IS COLLECTING SCHOOL SUPPLIES FOR CHAPMAN TEACHERS AND STUDENTS. DONATIONS CAN BE LEFT AT THE USD 333 BOARD OFFICE, 217 WEST 7TH. SUPPLIES SHOULD INCLUDE (BUT NOT LIMITED TO): BOOK BAGS, PENCILS, PENS, NOTEBOOK PAPER, NOTEBOOKS, SCISSORS, GLUE, WHITE/COLORED COPY PAPER, MARKERS, CRAYONS, DRY-ERASE MARKERS, ERASERS, AND COLORED PENCILS.
USD 333 staff members have also offered to assist Chapman school staff when they are ready to set-up classrooms to prepare for students.