Operation Coffeyville, Kansas

[Mhayes]

Hi Everyone,

Next Thursday we will be heading to Coffeyville, Kansas for a copy run at their public library. If you would like to see a video on the flood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W__5O1Vj-M

I feel very fortunate to be able to do this and to have the backing of OPR. When I joined, it was with the intention of being able to help restore pictures for those touched by Hurricane Katrina. It was during a lull in the number of pictures available for restoration that I asked Dave if we could help the victims of the Coffeyville flood. He said yes OPR would like to help but because of the Biloxi trip, I would have to run with it.

I am excited about this trip and a little nervous. As I jokingly told Glenna, they will probably find me with chairs piled up against the door while I hide under a desk. I am also moved at how grateful the people of Coffeyville are that we are doing this. They have gone all out to take care of broadcasting this event by newspaper and radio. All I can think of now is: Please don't let me break a leg!

Margie

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Good luck Margie. I know it will all go well for you and we will look forward to the Coffeyville chronicle.  ;)

[glennab]

Margie --

Hi brave soul!  I'm sure your copy run will be a success, and I know you've done a lot of prep work, which will help keep things going smoothly.

How did your preliminary trip go?  Sounds as if you'll be getting plenty of press.  How many people will be helping you?

I'll be with you in spirit, wishing you the very best and hoping that you're able to help a lot of people who've had to face this disaster.  Bless you for tackling the run with no prior experience.  Takes spunk, determination and a mighty big heart.

Lotsa hugs and moral support,

Glenna

[Mhayes]

Thanks Tess and Glenna,

The preliminary trip about a week ago went great. I got to see where we will be setting up shop, which is a really nice conference room with plenty of tables and chairs. There are also partitions if we should want to use them. I was most impressed with the head librarian, Helen Rigdon. She has done so much to get the word out and has been so supportive.

Originally three other volunteers responded to the copy run email for help. Upon a follow up email one volunteer disappeared. Later a 2nd volunteer went missing and now we are down to me, JoAnn Smith, and my sister. I think we may get some help for greeting people and getting their information on the forms. I have gotten an email from instructor of web design at the Coffeyville Junior College who wants to drop by with some students and another faculty member.

JoAnn Smith, a professor at the Dodge City Community College has been a very enthusiastic volunteer who has a 5 1/2 hour drive to make. On top of that she will get to drive an extra 50 miles to Bartlesville, OK for her motel stay. It seems that all motels in and around Coffeyville are booked for oil workers or FEMA.

I will keep everyone posted.

Margie

[Hannie]

Marge, I hope all goes well for you on Thursday and that you will get lots of help.
Thank you for doing this!

Hannie

[Dave]

Margie,

You're getting a real heavy dose of what it means to run an operation for OPR. Good luck with it. It seems to be a daunting task at the moment, but in the end I'm sure you'll find it a success. You'll be tired, but exhilarated.

You'll be driven by the hope that returns to eyes of the people that you're bringing our special brand of help to.

Dave

[rockthumper]

Margie,
I just wanted to wish you luck with your copy run. It sounds like you have some good contacts there for support - don't forget to delegate!
Looking forward to your report,  :up:
RT.

[beckysell]

Hi Margie,

Not that you won't be hearing it all over the place during your stay in Coffeyville, but thank-you for making the trip to collect the work.  It's a strange combination of exhausting and exhilerating, and know that, as Dave said, you are helping to bring hope back to people in a way that not many can. 

Becky

[Mhayes]

Hi Everyone,

We made it back from Coffeyville with over 1,000 photos. We met some amazing people and came away from this experience feeling fortunate that we could help. Despite the fact that all of us were new to doing a copy run, things went fairly smooth. Before the first person showed up with their pictures, we were a little nervous. But once that first person, a sweet and spry 80+ year old woman, showed up, we were no longer thinking of us but how we could get the job done.

Friday we had the good fortune to have Lonny Quattlebaum of Wichita, KS show up with a copy stand to help. He was only able to help that Friday as he and his wife had a new baby girl. The rest of our group: JoAnn of Dodge City, KS and my sister Vicky Sutterfield of Rose Hill, KS. Both Lonny and I ran the copy stands, while JoAnn downloaded the images to her laptop. My sister was a greeter who assessed the photos and got them ready for us.

Because I didn't have any photos that I thought were good enough to show for examples, Christine was good enough to send some of her work to show. People were really amazed that we could do this kind of work. In fact, one person said that if they had known we could do that kind of restoring, they would not have thrown out some of the photos they did.

All of the people that came in had lost their houses and pretty much everything else. A lot of the pictures were of relatives that were no longer alive. There were pictures of them from babies to adulthood. Some of the pictures also recorded the sad times in their life. One gentleman had a picture of him and his two brothers. His younger brother we learned died at about eight years of age.

On the last day of our run, a young woman came in with her grandmother and a basket full of pictures. We were able to do about 50 of her damaged photos. After telling her that we were happy that we could help her, she offered her hand to shake. She then came around the table and gave me a hug. I told her that we were so sorry for her loss. What she said next totally caught me off guard: "I came in expecting nothing." She was so overcome that we could help her.

I am very thankful for the help we received from the Director of the Coffeyville Public Library, Helen Rigdon. Helen worked tirelessly to help promote our coming and was a real joy to work with.

I am going to post some pictures of Coffeyville and the flooded area. Even though it did not get flooded, I wanted everyone to see the charm of Coffeyville's historical section. Also included is a picture of the Verdigris River that crested at 30.7 feet onJuly 1, 2007.

The people, who came in, wanted everyone in OPR to know how much they appreciated what we are doing.

Margie

[Mhayes]

[Mhayes]

This is the last picture. One night when I was watching the evening news, they were showing footage of the Tulsa fair.  Unfortunately, Coffeyville was unable to have a fair this year and a lot of the building on the grounds have been condeemed.

Margie

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Hi Margie, good to see you back. Glad you had such a successful copy run, it's great to hear about the people. Such a shame to see the oil damage on the buildings, it sure was high. I wonder what all that oil did to the photos?

[Ausimax]

Hi Margie,

So glad you had a good copy run, and that you got lots of customers, it looks as though they had some serious water around Coffeyville.
Pleased we will be able to help them in some small way, the way things are going it doesn't look like we will be unemployed any time soon and sooner or later the word has to get about and people will be asking OPR to come to their assistance.

Great work! :up:


Max

[Hannie]

Hi Margie,

Welcome back and thank you so much for sharing your story and photographs, much appreciated!


Hannie

[rockthumper]

It must be dreadful to see your home smeared like that when the waters recede. Oil contamination, I'd never thought of it!
Thanks Margie for your efforts, report and photos.  :up:

So who's going to be uploading the photos for distribution?