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(The following was written by Peter Prengaman, an
Associated Press editor based in Georgia.)
It would be embarrassing if it were not so
humbling.
Hours after the West Virginia mine explosion
(Monday, Apr. 5), scores of journalists from all over the country
started arriving--in a very rural area with no communications or places
to sleep closer than an hour’s drive away.
When the governor began giving press briefings at
Marsh Fork Elementary School, journalists began getting comfortable at
the site a few miles from the mine entrance, and we never left. By
Tuesday, a couple dozen satellite trucks filled the parking lot, and
classrooms with tiny chairs and paintings on the walls were turned into
newsrooms and bedrooms.
And all of a sudden there was food--a lot of food.
Pepperoni pizza. Pulled pork and beans. Fried chicken, potatoes and
green beans. Cookies. Crackers. Doughnuts of all stripes.
Usually I lose a few pounds while covering stories
like this. The deadlines are too tight, the access to food often
limited. This time, I’ll be going home a little rounder, and with a
touched heart.
The food was cooked by residents and donated by
businesses in this community. Some of it came by way of a local Red
Cross, a Wal-Mart and a United Way, but even more was the home cooking
of kind West Virginians who just wanted to take care of us.
Imagine, here we are, an aggressive and
hard-charging bunch of journalists in the middle of this devastated
community, and it’s they who are taking care of us!
The kindness hasn’t been lost on any of us. By
Thursday, two plastic jars--“school collection” and “community
collection”--were put out, and by Friday both had a few hundred dollars.
I feel like we owe this school and these people so much more.
When I asked interim principal Shelly Prince how
folks could be so giving at a time like this, she said that many felt it
was soothing to help others. This situation made them feel helpless, and
helping others was doing something. She also said it gave people a
chance to show the world what West Virginians are “really like.”
“Often on TV, we are not portrayed in such a good
manner. We often are portrayed as ignorant and backward,” she said. “But
we are just ordinary people who live ordinary lives.”
I have to disagree. These people are extraordinary.
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Publisher Helen Morris is now recuperating from
knee surgery with her children, and is doing very well
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