| NEWS of the Day - March 4, 2012 |
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on some issues of interest to the community policing and neighborhood activist across the country
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following group of articles from local newspapers and other sources constitutes but a small percentage of the information available to the community policing and neighborhood activist public. It is by no means meant to cover every possible issue of interest, nor is it meant to convey any particular point of view ...
We present this simply as a convenience to our readership ... |
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From Los Angeles Times
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Indiana tornado victims have a champion -- a determined one
by John Hoeffel
March 3, 2012
Reporting from Charlestown, Ind.— Cathy Mangels knew when she woke up Saturday that she wanted to do something to help the people in Indiana who had lost their homes in Friday's tornadoes.
She thought about going through her closet to find clothes to donate, but that did not seem like enough. She went to the high school, where there was a shelter for the victims, but things seemed a little disorganized. So she decided to do a “roadblock,” collecting money in buckets from passing motorists.
"It was kind of like an epiphany, you know,” she said. “I've done fundraising all my life with my father.”
She recalled that one year she and her father participated in 18 roadblocks. Her last one with her father, a tavern owner, was in 1996. He had Lou Gehrig's disease, she said, and could not hold a bucket in his hand. He held the rope handle in his teeth.
Mangels went to the police station to see about a permit. Monday, she was told. She insisted. Monday, she was told -- that's when the chief would be in. What about the mayor? she asked. She knows him, and knows him to be a good man. Has to be the chief, she was told.
The 59-year-old property manager is not easily discouraged. She raised half a million dollars to build a park for special-needs children; it's named after her father.
“I raised it by buckets. I raised it by begging. I raised it from raffling,” she said.
When she left the police station, she ran into the mayor. He was on his cellphone talking to the chief. She got her permit. She had to promise to get orange vests and not get killed.
She bought vests and picked up buckets from the Fire Department. She called a friend; her 41-year-old son, Packy; her 34-year-old son, Scott; and a niece and nephew.
By midmorning, they were standing in the middle of the busiest intersection in Charlestown -- near Henryville and Marysville, where tornadoes destroyed many buildings and killed a man. Signs on brightly colored posters announced their purpose: “Help for Henryville, Marysville” and “Spared to Care.” Hand-drawn hearts emphasized the point.
Sarah Adams, who drives by Marysville on her way to work at an auto parts store, pulled over to hand some cash to Mangels. It was the second time she had stopped. “So far, I've only given five dollars, but I know every little bit counts,” she said.
Adams was visiting her father-in-law when the tornado hit. They hid in the basement. When she came out, her car windshield was smashed in three places. But, she said, insurance will take care of it. The damage in Marysville, she said, was devastating. “It's very sad to see.”
Mangels said she had no idea how much they had collected so far; she intends to give the money to the American Red Cross. At least a quarter of the motorists passing by stopped to roll down their windows and give a donation. Some people came over from a convenience store nearby to donate.
“It takes everybody coming together over something like this,” she said. “You just want to get out there and do what you can.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-tornadoes-volunteer-20120303,0,2907795.story |
