"Butterflies held down my feet"

Maureen and I were up early and over to the Joplin School District to volunteer. I've been corresponding with their volunteer coordinator for about a year. Last week he fortuitously sent out a call for volunteers for this week, needing folks to help with office work, clerical jobs, data entry, mindless stuff that we are well suited for. The guys back at Rhonda's and Duenweg actually got to sleep in a bit longer, but back out, courageously facing the 103 degree heat index. I admire their devotion to mission as I go to the school district air conditioned office. The head of volunteers for the school district gave us "his story," talking of the hard road back for the school system. He, too, emphasized leadership and preparation. We asked him why he thought the volunteer effort continued at such a pace when other disaster areas talked of dwindling volunteerism within weeks. He thinks it is partly due to the media's coverage, which shared the carnage but also showed people cleaning up and moving on. (We think it's also partly because Joplin is easy to get to from just about anywhere.) Regardless, our job today -- writing thank you notes to hundreds of donors from all over the world-- made it clear that generous nature is not limited to working in the sun. It is amazing -- children from Worcester, Massachusetts sending in $17.65 from going door to door selling koolaid; an organization in Utah sending thousands of dollars "to keep the high school band going," individuals sending thirty or forty or a hundred dollars -- the pile was high. It was the sort of task that is a twelve-year old boy's nightmare, but I have great penmanship so it was right up my alley. We talked about whether the guys would rather be cooler and writing thank you notes or hot and using chainsaws. I'm guessing I know but we'll ask tonight. Eight of their 16 schools were demolished, yet -- as you may have seen on the news -- they were determined to start school on time and they did. We asked if the rebuilt High School would be named "Hope High School," from the i conic photo in front of the old school. "No," Dale told us. "We talked about that, and decided that would be a reminder of a tough time, of the past. We are about Hope, but we are not Hope High School. We are Joplin High School." A statue of a butterfly stands in the lobby. Dottie told us the story, and Dale repeated it, of pediatricians and counselors sharing stories of totally unrelated children -- toddlers, little ones who would not have contact with others -- telling stories of "butterfly people" who held them down during the storm. "Butterflies held down my feet," a four-year old told her pediatrician. Another: "The closet door kept flying open, and the butterfly person, closed it back for me." There is a widely held belief here that these children were seeing angels. I choose to believe it myself. Back into the heat, on to a pool party at my sister's house tonight. She tells me she's thrown ice in the pool to cool it down. Nice. Stay tuned.