A new beginning

This represents my first blog entry. To start out I am going to tackle a big problem that has just hit my town; the small town known as the Circus City, Peru, Indiana. Let me set the stage for you...

Good times. We all love them, we look forward to them, cherish them. They’re part of what makes life so much of a joy to live.

Then we have the hard times. They’re rough, hard to handle, sometimes they feel overwhelming. But the hard times are what pull people together, build character, and prove what we’re made of.

Today we are facing just such a hard time. For some, it’s a tragedy.

With Grant Home Furnishings burning down Saturday, we’ve lost a good local business, ran by good people. Those people have now lost their livelihood, their home, and they’ve seen their dreams dashed to the ground.

For anyone who knows the Grants or any of their employees, don’t just tell them how badly you feel for them. At this time they need help and support more than they need sympathy. Ask what you can do to help them. Offer to give them a hand with something, pay a bill for them; just DO something.

This tragedy doesn’t stop there; it doesn’t just affect a few families. The fire caused damage, a lot of damage, to the closest neighboring building as well, the Circus Building. With the Circus Building now having ‘condemned’ signs on it as a result, we’re all affected.

It’s not just a building or a summer event. It’s not just something the kids like to do, or that people like to sit and watch. The circus is the heart and soul of our town, our community. It is this kind of hard time that will require all of us to pull together.

The community needs to unite to restore or rebuild the circus building. The community needs to unite to restore the great tradition that we all love so much, and that has been the heritage of our town for generations.

Let this evening's events serve as a template for things to come. As a few people desperately made phone calls, trying to gather as many circus kids, parents, and volunteers together in as little time as possible. The purpose? To ask Ty Pennington from Extreme Home Makeover to please come to Peru and fix our home.

Yes we want the circus building repaired, but more pressing is taking care of the Grant family, who have lost everything. Ty, if you read this, please do come and help us!

For the rest of you here in Peru, please recognize that NOW is the time for this community to prove what it is made of. NOW is the time for all of us to show our character. NOW is the time for us to pull together as one. NOW is the time for action.

When information becomes available about what needs to be done, how much it will cost, and how long it will take; we all need to volunteer our time, money, and talents towards this great cause. By pulling together, we can keep the good times coming, so that families can continue to cherish the circus for generations to come.