Trip to The Burg

Yesterday, I traveled to Greensburg, Kansas, for the Grand Opening of their new school. Greensburg is located in western Kansas, 5 hours from Kansas City and about 2 hours from Wichita.

If your aren't familiar with Greensburg, this was the town that was demolished by an F5 tornado back in May 2007. Ninety-five percent of the town was leveled, leaving the citizens and community of 1,564 with nothing.

Can you imagine being left with nothing? With no where to live? What would keep you there to rebuild?

Everyone watched the devastation on TV as the little town made national news everywhere.

Together, the people of Greensburg came together and made a commitment to start fresh, build green, and come back better and stronger than ever. Furthermore, they city council passed a resolution that all city buildings must be built to LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) standards. Which basically means they must be designed and built with sustainable materials, functions, etc.

Planet Green, a Discovery Channel Network, even made the rebuilding efforts into a TV series.

Today, the town has many re-built homes, a hospital, city hall, "main street", churches, a John Deere facility, and multiple other buildings.

Three years ago, my company was selected as the contractor to rebuild the new K-12 school. After a long process of coordination with FEMA, obtaining funding, design and construction, the new school is finally revealed.

The ceremony was extremely touching. I can't tell you how heart wrenching it was to see parents and children wipe their eyes as the ceremony speeches were given, remembering that day back in May 2007. The struggles this town has overcome is truly amazing.

This school is one of a kind, the pictures simply do not do it justice. Here's to Greensburg and their recovery!

 

Many of the guys (minus the ones in suits:) who moved their lives to Greensburg to help with the build.