HArveyville, KA
Re-plant, Re-paint, Rebuild, Renew Harveyville
2 0 1 2 G AC FAC T
After a devastating tornado in February 2012, the residents of Harveyville, Kan., a small community located 45 miles southwest of Topeka, were in need of assistance. So Keep America Beautiful—Topeka/Shawnee County (KAB-TSC) took action by creating the “Re-plant, Re-paint, Rebuild, Renew Harveyville” project.
7.9 million volunteer hours
“The damage to the community was severe with 60 percent of the residents having damage to some extent,” said Philicia McKee, executive director of KAB-TSC. Nearly 30 homes were no longer inhabitable and the tornado destroyed the town’s only church. Thanks to a Lowe’s Community Improvement Grant, KABTSC was able to develop a long-range plan to refurbish the community’s primary public facilities—the city’s park, ball field and City Hall—by the time its 75th Annual Harveyville Fair festival took place in September. “These are projects that would not have been completed without Lowe’s and our volunteers,” McKee said.
“With the new facelift, we believe that the residents will take more pride and use those facilities even more than before.” Prior to the fall festival, 120 volunteers from Topeka planted 50 trees and planted nearly 800 flowers. In addition to the Lowe’s Heroes, a number of area volunteer groups demonstrated their community spirit, including representatives from local companies (Frito-Lay, Edward Jones and Security Benefit Group) to school groups (Mission Valley High School and Ft. Hayes State University) to local church groups (Antioch Baptist Church). The volunteers made improvements to 19 properties. After the tornado, everything in the town was pruned, trimmed and re-planted. The volunteers even fixed fences, rebuilt outbuildings and re-painted homes in colors that were chosen by the homeowners. The shelter at the ball field was painted, as were the bleachers. And 700 pounds of grass seed were donated by Lowe’s in Topeka to help re-seed 20 residential properties in Harveyville. “We made friends in Harveyville,” McKee added. “We learned their stories and became a part of their lives. When something becomes ‘every day,’ it begins to be taken for granted. Attitudes of complacency set it. Disasters seem to bring people together through their common bond of loss.”
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