While the rest of the country was weighing in on Arizona's new immigration legislation, the Gulf Coast was waiting (and still is) for a solution to the horrific oil leak, and New York City was investigating a failed terrorist attack, the people of Nashville and middle Tennessee were dealing with what some are calling the "1,000 Year Flood."
On Sunday, May 3, I left Washington to fly to Nashville for a conference and saw the very unfortunate situation on the ground first hand. Across the next several days, we saw the water breach the river's banks and heard up-to-the-moment reports of flooding at Music City's most prized landmarks: The Grand Ole Opry, the basement of the Shermerhorn Symphony Hall, the Wildhorse Saloon, LP Field and so on.
Fortunately, we were able to continue with our conference, stay in a downtown hotel, patronize the honky tonks, and, hopefully, in turn do our part to support the Nashville economy during it's most dire moment.
On Sunday, May 3, I left Washington to fly to Nashville for a conference and saw the very unfortunate situation on the ground first hand. Across the next several days, we saw the water breach the river's banks and heard up-to-the-moment reports of flooding at Music City's most prized landmarks: The Grand Ole Opry, the basement of the Shermerhorn Symphony Hall, the Wildhorse Saloon, LP Field and so on.
Fortunately, we were able to continue with our conference, stay in a downtown hotel, patronize the honky tonks, and, hopefully, in turn do our part to support the Nashville economy during it's most dire moment.
Now you can too. Volunteer Traditions, a Nashville-based company, that has appeared under SG's "Purveyors of Southern Goods" column for quite some time is giving 25% of May 2010 sales to help flood victims.
With gear from the Volunteer State and Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North & South Carolina, and Texas, you now have no excuse to not show how much you love Tennessee.
It's good to see Americans helping Americans. I'm sick of the how international disaster relief, ie Haiti, is in vogue, while the Gulf Coast and Nashville are largely ignored by the media and public.
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to take away from the plight of the people of Haiti and the different scales of destruction, but it's bizarre how we, as Americans feel less compelled to offer assistance and even awareness, when it is domestic incident.
Think before you comment. Not to diminish the Nashville (and Millington) flooding, but you can't really compare the experience of the average Nashville citizen affected by the flood to the average Haitian affected by the earthquake. What happened there was far worse and happened to people who were already in drastically worse living conditions. I wonder, is any of this money going to people outside of the Nashville area? I know nashville was the hardest hit overall, but other towns were hit just as bad in some places and you don't really hear about benefits, etc. for them.
ReplyDeleteCommunities outside of Nashville were hit much worse than the city itself. As someone who has traveled to Ashland City the past two weekends to lend a hand in the the relief efforts on homes that were completely submerged for days, I understand this. While there I have seen the Red Cross and church groups from various churches using volunteers from Kentucky, Ohio, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Indiana, and even New Hampshire.
ReplyDeleteVolunteer Traditions will be going through Hands On Nashville, a local organization, to find a specific household. They have helped coordinate the effort for Middle Tennessee sending goods and teams the smaller cities outside metro Nashville (Ashland City, Hickman County, etc). Through this we hope to make a direct impact and document it via either video or pictures.
Mason: Thanks for leaving a commenting and clarifying, from your perspective, what is going on and how you/Volunteer Traditions is helping to ensure the funds get into the right hands.
ReplyDeleteEOO & Memphis88: Both of you have interesting points.
EOO: I agree with you the amount of media attention given to the Gulf Coast and the blip on the radar that was the Middle TN floods coverage is deplorable.
Memphis88: While the scale and impact are different and probably shouldn't be compared, I agree that we have a national responsibility both to help our own people but also neighbors.
I should have mentioned that I totally agree that the national media response to the flooding was extremely disappointing. It was almost as though they didn't even know it was happening. Makes you wonder if they would have given it any attention at all if Nashville wasn't the home of nearly every major country musician or band.
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