As dreams go, Tracey Welch’s was a pretty good one.
Tracey, who was the principal at St. Mary’s Elementary School in Joplin from 1997 through 2006, wanted to do something to help kick-start rebuilding efforts for the Catholic school, which was destroyed in the May 22 tornado.
“I had a dream that we had this lemonade stand like we used to have as kids, and in the dream we raised $25,000,” Tracey said.
Margie Black emailed me about Tracey’s dream-fueled lemonade stand idea. Margie wrote that the fundraiser has taken on a life of its own: “In typical Catholic school family response, it evolved into this large group of folks pitching in, baking cookies, designing T-shirts and all sorts of other stuff.”
The T-shirt has that image of the mangled St. Mary’s Catholic Church with the big cross still standing firm.
The stand with lemonade, baked goods, T-shirts and all sorts of other stuff will set up at 5 p.m. today in front of Instant Karma Gourmet Hot Dogs, 527 S. Main St., as part of the Third Thursday event.
All three of Tracey’s children attended the school, and she said there is a strong bond among those who have ever spent any time around the school. That explains why Jeanette Stengel, who preceded Tracey as the school’s principal, is also helping put the fundraiser together.
“This thing has grown legs,” Tracey said. “We have volunteers to help with the stand, and some of the kids are baking things, and we’re selling T-shirts. It’s amazing.”
The “kids are baking things” is one of the neat aspects of the fundraiser, Tracey said.
Money raised at the event will be used to help purchase textbooks and supplies to replace those that were lost or ruined in the tornado, so there is a certain amount of karma — so to speak — in having kids helping out. And besides, lemonade stands — I think by law — are required to have kids manning them.
I wrote about St. Mary’s a few days after the tornado. At the end of the column, I mentioned that I wasn’t too worried about the school or the church, which also was destroyed in the storm. I mentioned that I wasn’t worried about the school or the church because of the people who make up the school and the church. St. Mary’s, I said, would be fine. The folks would work hard, and they would rebuild. And less than a month later, that long process has begun.
Look, I don’t know if the lemonade stand will raise $25,000 tonight or not. I mean, $25,000 would be a lot of lemonade. Unless, of course (to paraphrase an old Steve Martin bit), the folks at St. Mary’s plan on charging $25,000 for a glass of lemonade. Sure, a price like that might keep sales down a bit, but hey, all they have to do is sell one glass.
Actually, Tracey said the lemonade will sell for a donation. In other words, what you want to pay is what you pay. And keep in mind that although in Tracey’s dream her lemonade stand raised $25,000, that amount is not meant to be a ceiling.
“We’ll take whatever someone wants to give us,” Tracey said. “If they want to give us $100,000, we’ll gladly take it.”
By the way, those strong emotional ties that Tracey has for St. Mary’s got even stronger in the aftermath of the storm. Tracey’s son, Cody, passed away three years ago. Tracey said that before he died, Cody lost his McAuley Catholic High School class ring at St. Mary’s. A few days after the tornado, Teresa Robertson, who works at St. Mary’s, was helping salvage what could be salvaged, and she found Cody’s ring.
“There is no reason that ring should have been there other than guardian angel stuff,” Tracey said.
Just like there is no reason one lemonade stand could possibly raise $25,000.
Right?
Tornado: Mike Pound
Mike Pound: Believing in dreams ... and guardian angels
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Mike Pound: Saying nice things about St. John’s folks is easy
Francis Williams called me Wednesday morning and told me she reads my column “most every day.” I then waited for her next sentence, which usually goes something like this: “And I think you are a moron.”
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Mike Pound: Joplin Habitat looking for eligible families
A quick drive on Missouri Highway 171 near the Joplin Regional Airport tells you all you need to know.
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Mike Pound: Woman’s effort snags scrubs for Joplin
It was an idea so simple and so obvious that it makes people slap their head and say “Why didn’t I think of that?”
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Mike Pound: Veterans bearing gifts coming to Joplin
Robert Marrone told me that a planned trip to Joplin by a group of veterans from California University of Pennsylvania is just another way for them to give back to the community.
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Mike Pound: Minot, N.D. needs Joplin’s support, too
I tend to go through life without thinking. Or without thinking too much. I always felt that deep thinking was for folks ... well for folks who were deep thinkers. I tend to be a shallow thinker.
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Mike Pound: Winning teams in place before the tornado struck
We don’t have many big meetings here in the newsroom. I think, in part, that’s because nobody wants to spend much time in a room full of newspaper people. That’s what I think.
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Mike Pound: Group comes together for mother, child
The women all knew each other but they didn’t know each other well. They grew up in the same town, and they graduated from the same high school, but because of their slight age differences none of them were ever close friends.
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Mike Pound: There is no stopping the St. Mary’s backers
For a woman who is raising some serious cash, Tracey Welch doesn’t like to talk much about money. In response to a question this week about how close she and the other folks raising money for St. Mary’s Catholic Elementary School were to Tracey’s $25,000 goal, she sort of dodged the question.
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Mike Pound: Mother of storm victims getting by ‘day by day’
“Are you sleeping at night?” Crystal Whitely pondered the question posed to her for a second. Then, through a tight smile, she said, “No, not really. I don’t know if I will ever sleep like I used to.”
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Mike Pound: How can we thank all those who have helped Joplin?
I sort of got a problem. It’s a nice problem, but a problem nonetheless. The problem is I can’t keep up with all of the nice things folks have been doing for Joplin. I’m not the only one having that problem.
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