My Life. My neighborhood. My world. Mike Richards.

KGAN talks to Mike Richards

As a companion "human interest" story to the excellent feature story on the Rebuild And Grow petition to City Council and civic leaders, KGAN News talked with me to learn "more about the man behind the petition." This interview gave me an opportunity to drive home the message that each of us, whether flooded or not, need to reach inside ourselves and decide if we want to be pitiful or powerful.

As powerful people, we'll pull together to help ourselves and our neighbors as we step up to the challenge to rebuild and improve our lives, our neighborhoods, and our city. As a shining example of a powerful neighbor hard at work rebuilding his life, home, and helping his neighborhood, this on-line story showcases Bill Reyhonn. Bill is fortunate to have out-of-town volunteers helping him to gut and rehab his home. But it will not be long before the out-of-town volunteers are fewer and less frequent in their offers to help. That's where we have to reach deep and find the strength in ourselves to help ourselves and our neighbors. Neighborhood self-help will be especially important as we head into Winter.