Parkersburg Teamwork

My son's high school football team went by bus to Parkersburg on Wednesday to help with storm clean-up. He took a few photos with his cell phone camera.

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He said they saw American flags flying in random places throughout the area of destruction.

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The team picked up debris at the golf course on the southeast side of town; the greens having a small creek running through them. This photo below shows how the creek looks right now.......packed full of stuff blown out of houses. My son said there was absolutely everything in there.......shoes, clothes, stuffed animals, CARS........just anything and everything from peoples' lives!

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This next photo looks north toward the part of Parkersburg which took a much less severe hit than the subdivision of newer homes on the south side of town.

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The Aplington-Parkersburg high school was demolished; a fact which both startled and fascinated my kids, who have all played basketball games in the gym there, and ran at the track.

Around this part of Iowa, the school is referred to by its initials, "A-P". A-P is well-known for successful athletic teams, especially in football, and, in fact, four former A-P standouts are on NFL team rosters.......Aaron Kampman of the Green Bay Packers, Casey Weigmann of the Denver Broncos, Brad Meester of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Jared DeVries of the Detroit Lions. I doubt there's another small-town Iowa high school that can boast that many NFL players amongst its alumni!

I've never been a big fan of pro sports, but its heartening to read in the newspaper of the concern these NFL guys have for their old hometown area, and their plans to help raise funds to rebuild the high school.

Update 6/23/08: Here's a newspaper story about a recent fundraising event involving the NFL players from A-P.