According to Bob Dixson, a sense of “ownership” saved Greensburg when a massive tornado leveled 95% of the town, killing eleven people. Imagine emerging from the rubble in the middle of the Kansas plains with one question… where do we go from here?

After the storm, the community came together under a big FEMA tent to cry, hug each other, and envision the future. They decided to forgo the government’s cookie-cutter plan for rebuilding. Instead, they created a blueprint to establish Greensburg as America’s “greenest” town, powered by renewable energy with smart infrastructure for water conservation, and the most LEED-certified buildings per capita in the US. They started with the community art space, because as Bob said, they had lost everything, and a little beauty goes a long way.

Bob Dixson never planned to be the mayor of Greensburg. He was enjoying his recent retirement from the postal service when the tornado tore the roof off his lifelong family home. But as he and his wife huddled in the basement, they thought only of their neighbors and how they could help the community survive. That sense of service is what made Bob the mayor of a small Midwest town facing the near impossible task of recreating itself.

Join us for a powerful story of resilience, small town values, good ol’ Midwest pragmatism, and above all, hope.

Find episode transcript and links for Bob Dixson and Greensburg at HopeIsMyMiddleName.com

If you liked this episode, listen next to Doug Naselroad: Building Instruments to Recover from Floods and Addiction in Appalachia, Hope Is My Middle Name season 2, episode 8.

Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.

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