Prehistoric surprise along Theodore Wirth Parkway

Glimpse of destruction from tornado to Theodore Wirth Park

Plants with leaves forming

Tamarack with lake creature in background

Rode my bike down Theodore Wirth Parkway to see some of the damage from the recent tornado.  Lots of trees down in large swaths of the park.

An opinion piece in the Star Tribune, "New life for Wirth in the wake of toranado", discusses plans to enhance Theodore Wirth Parkway for the "silent sports" of mountain biking, cross country skiing, trail running, hiking, etc.

Further down the parkway I spotted a surprise visitor in one of the lakes. Seemed a bit prehistoric.  Looking around at the vegetation and then seeing a Pileated Woodpecker flap by made me think I had just been drop lifted into the set of Jurassic Park.

Information on "Minne" the Lake Creature is available on the internet.

"Minne" wading through the lake

Mentoring in service to others

Minneapolis police officer on horse

I had the pleasure last night of helping to serve a meal once again to some of the people impacted by the tornado in north Minneapolis.  It was an added delight to see one of the volunteers, a young man, "K.J." who was matched many years ago in the Kinship mentoring program.  He was there serving others with his Kinship friends, Walt and Heather Carpenter.

K.J. was a little guy when he got matched up with the Carpenters, who lived nearby by him in north Minneapolis. Now he's 14 and can look them in the eyes.  Walt jested that he's got to be nice to K.J., having himself grown up in a family with brothers that grew to be bigger than he was.

Horses drawing attention and adoration

The Carpenters are very involved members of Christ English Lutheran and exemplary models of service.  During the meal last night Heather was organizing the food and volunteers, while Walt was manning the dishwasher.

There was a great turn out of a few dozen volunteers helping out.  And again, the Northside residents were most gracious and appreciative.  As is often the case, those serving may have been more blessed than those receiving.

When leaving the church it was interesting to see a couple of police on horseback who were patrolling the area. The horses were a big hit with residents.

Northside tornado update

Kitchen volunteers

Food line

Yesterday I went back north Minneapolis to serve victims of the recent tornado.   My old workplace, Christ English Lutheran Church, on Lowry and Oliver Avenues North, was serving meals and providing fellowship to nearby residents.  Only one block away from the church trees were down and roofs uplifted from Sunday's storm.  Most of the folks I visited with were among the 2,000 residents still without power.

Girls in Action from Henry High School

I would guess somewhere between 250-300 people stopped by for the community supper.  There were about 10 pastors there to provide a listening ear and 20 volunteers helping to serve and clean-up after the meal.  Among the volunteers were three young ladies from Minneapolis' Henry High School Girls in Action.

I had the pleasure of welcoming folks as they entered, and informing them of their choice fried chicken or Chinese meals. Despite the adverse conditions there was a positive and gracious spirit among those with whom I had the opportunity to visit.  They were appreciative of the meal and seemed to enjoy the warmth and fellowship provided by Christ English Lutheran.

Man with walking stick from storm

Christ English hopes to host a Camp Noah later in July for neighborhood kids impacted by the storm.  Volunteers will be needed.

One gentleman had a beautiful walking stick that he had recently made from a branch that had broken off in the storm.  He had peeled off the branch's bark and will be adding the date of the tornado to the stick to keep as a reminder.

After the supper I drove down the street to see how the clean-up efforts were coming along.  There seemed to be tarps over all of the roofs that had been uplifted and many of the trees were cut into sections and piled along the curb.

Street with trees cut up on curbside

I was a bit disturbed to hear a radio broadcast that not only will there be a long wait for contractor help to rebuild, since spring is their busy season, but also that many may be resistant to working in north Minneapolis because of the reputation it has for being an unsafe place.  This was quite the contrary of my experience last night, when I found it warm and inviting.

Tornado hits close to home

Car crushed by fallen tree

Trees down

A couple of days ago just three miles from our home a tornado touched down in north Minneapolis.  It devastated dozens of homes and took down hundreds of trees. Amazingly only one person died and 30 were hospitalized as a result of the storm. Sadly one volunteer, Floyd Whitfield, died while helping out at a neighbor's home. Power to over 20,000 homes was knocked out.

Residents leaving

Damage to house from uprooted tree

I went over to the Northside yesterday morning to see if I could help. Volunteer efforts were being organized by Urban Homeworks.  Seems they were inundated with volunteers and unprepared for dealing with such a disaster.  Even though volunteers are "free" they still need direction and supervision.  With fallen trees, live electrical wires and the possibility of stepping on nails, etc. safety is also a major concern.

Tree top sheered off by tornado

Interested in volunteering or providing financial support? Given the initial outpouring of support, it was recommend that volunteers check back in the days and weeks ahead with Urban Homeworks.  Financial contributions to assist the victims are being managed though a variety of sources including www.GiveMN.org.

A look south from Lowry Avenue