Rotarians Chip in on Reading Cleanup

Posted by Paul Bossert

Thanks to all of the Rotarians from Topeka South Rotary and Rotary District 5710 for helping make an impact on the Reading community. Thanks to KSNT, The Topeka Capital Journal, and Kansas City Action NBC Action News for covering the event. Read the CJ Online article and view more pictures by clicking the link below.

Rotarians Chip in - CJ Online

Seventy volunteers from eleven central and eastern Kansas Rotary Clubs spent Saturday with chain saws, wood splitters, backhoe and hand saws clearing trees damaged in the EF-3 tornado that hit the town of Reading on May 21. The tornado killed one person and demolished 54 of the town's 101 homes, nearly all of its businesses and its post office.

The trees and brush threatened a bridge over Mud Creek.

“After our work in Joplin, Kelly Wolfert (Overland Park South Rotarian) and I felt the need to help in tornado torn Reading, Kansas which is within our district boundaries, about a two hour drive from Kansas City.” said Joni Pflumm, Shawnee Rotarian. In June, a group of Kansas City area Rotarians restored a public park in Joplin.

Joining the Rotarians were volunteers from Heart to Heart International with a mobile health unit on site for unexpected injuries. With their medical staff they provided general medical checkups, laboratory and flu vaccines for Reading residents. Also joining the team were international exchange students from Taiwan, Chile, Switzerland, Belgium and Romania.

At the end of the day, approximately 300 yards of the creek channel were cleared, resulting in 12 cords of firewood for the residents of Reading and several large piles of brush, that were burned. As the group was packing up its gear, a resident who lost her home in the tornado, Sonya Parker, came to pick up some firewood – several of the volunteers stayed to load her truck.

Barbara Schlobohm, a member of the Reading Long Term Recovery Committee, summed it up in a note to the organizers. "What an absolute shock to see how much was accomplished! Thank you, thank you, for organizing this project – it was desperately needed".

The Rotarians who traveled to Reading came from Clubs in Rotary District 5710 in eastern Kansas: Lenexa, Shawnee, Overland Park South, Johnson County-Sunset, DeSoto, Gardner, Emporia, Topeka South, Leavenworth, Garnett and Manhattan Konza. Lunch for the volunteers was provided by Oklahoma Joes, Olathe, Kansas.