A Man & His Problems..

I met several really wonderful people on Thursday, 3 days after the August 4th Tornado touched down in Griffth, IN..

One man said he'd be out of his home for between 8 months and a year.. Knowing that, he called the utilities to shut off service. When he got to NIPSCO, they said he could shut down service, however, when he went to start serQvice again, he'd be subject to a $1500 deposit.. Of course, he'd get that back one day, after so much time has passed.. And the reason that deposit was so high.. is because he'd missed a couple oaaf paymentQs. Missed a couple of payments? Even several payments..? NIPSCO.. these people are lucky to be alive and they've lived through something horrific, losing most of their belongings, so incaaredibly fortunate that their loved ones are alive and uninjured. And now, through the most difficult times in their lives, you're going to strap them with a $1500 deposit, when they want to restart their service... knowing you could HELP them, if you wanted to.. to make starting their lives over again a little easier, but nope.. that's apparently not what you intend to do at all... Omg.. Well, one thing is true.. You certainly can't call yourselves "the company with a heart..".. Nope.. you sure can't.

....unless, of course, that decision was just that of the woman he talked to on the phone.. ? You would repeal that decision and be a little more sympathic to the problem if you.. and that's a collective "you".. knew exactly what happened.. Right? Right.

The good thing about leaving service turned on is probably that during construction, having electric and gas will be needed. I'm not even sure the workers could do their jobs, if they're rebuilding a home in the middle of winter in this area with no gas or electric, as a new furnace will go in there one day.. and workers would have a though time of finishing the inside of any home without heat or electric.. Darkness will come early and home interiors are difficult to work on with no electric to light their way on a dark and cloudy day.. so as far as leaving the electric on.. well, most insurance companies will reimburse for that expense, knowing the services are necessary for the rebuild...

However, NIPSCO's attitude rather took all of us aback...

I hope this man and his family have an easier time of it than it seems right now.. And I wish them well, as they muddle through the days of restoration ahead of them!

Do well, Griffith.. do well. I'll keep you all in my prayers for the next several months..

Tornado Miracles 2..

I am so impressed with the people of Griffith who went through that horrific evening.. Nice people.. ordinary joe's.. but lovely that they welcomed us to show us all that they'd gone through and what they'd accomplished since. This is the 3rd day.. and already, one family's garage is totally dismantled and removed.. and in it's place, there is this bit of complete order and cleanliness on a slab of concrete that had to have been unrecognizeable on Tuesday morning. The pile of rubble in front of their house went from one end of their property down the street to the middle of the next home's property.. or so it seemed. All that's left is to take this 8 to 10 foot wide.. and 5 or 6 foot tall mound and throw it away. Gee, that's all.. :( Not so fast. And certainly, not so easy. The city brought a dumpster in for them.. it's just past their pile of "stuff".. Of course, it's for the entire neighborhood. I'll say that the pile on the lawn was about 2 or 3 times the size of that dumpster... so it will be a few days before enough dumpsters have come and gone, before they can finish their task..

There was a small angel in a lovely garden.. and my thought was that the angel was hiding behind one of the plants, afraid to come out.. It was untouched. But all around that garden, there was chaos.. a street light that had fallen to the ground.. a pillar from the covered front porch of the house, that had been totally swept away in the high winds. Unbelieveable sights.. Chaos and angels.. neither touching the other, but existing side-by-side.

And speaking of Angels.. there are those from Reed's Temple Church. Standing out in the street and hawking bottles of water as if he was holding gold in his hands, he approached me and asked me if I'd like some water.. I said I didn't live there.. He very warmly said that made no difference.. was I thirsty? Yes, I was.. so thank you very much, as I took the bottle of cold liquid from his hand. I talked to him a few seconds and he took me over to three other church women who all got up and shook my hand until the last one gave me a hug, that is.. I told them I was a volunteer storm spotter from the National Weather Service in Chicago and was there to report what I saw.. with photos and words.. and they welcomed me. The man who gave me the water said how lucky they were to have a wonderful Minister like Rev. Reed.. and I said Wonderful Minsters are lucky to find wonderful congregations.. That's paraphrased, because I'm older 'n' dirt and somethings don't come out the 2nd time the way they did the first, so why try, huh? ;)

When I left there, I have to say it's the only church where I've liked the people so very much, that if I lived in the area, I'd have a hard time staying away.. Warm.. loving.. giving.. so upbeat.. and volunteering their time to do so much good for the entire neighbhood.. especially for the people who have no electric.. no anything.. can't cook for themselves at all. The church is out there.. feeding them. How lovely. How truly, truly lovely. Thank you, Pastor Reed for all your congregation is doing for the people who need your help so much!!