Elaine Spencer
EF3
It may be an exaggeration to call this a "trend", but it's an interesting idea nonetheless:
http://wivb.com/2016/05/30/storm-safe-room-as-a-wedding-gift-a-new-trend-in-tornado-alley/
Never mind toasters, blenders and slow cookers. Joplin, Missouri, tornado survivors Kayla and Ricky Smith had a more practical request for a wedding gift – shelter from the next big storm.
The Smiths were on the leading edge of an odd trend in Tornado Alley: Engaged couples using bridal registries or word of mouth to request donations so they can purchase safe rooms, which are strong, pre-fabricated shelters typically installed in houses or garages....
The Smiths weren’t yet married when the tornado came through Joplin. Kayla was with her parents in a car that was spun off the road into a yard. Ricky took shelter in his apartment stairwell. When he emerged, the building was gone. All were relatively unscathed.
As their wedding approached in 2013, they asked for safe room donations as wedding gifts, eventually building a $5,200 safe room in their garage. “It was really just our main necessity, something to keep us safe,” Kayla Smith, 29, said.
Sometimes, relatives of the newlyweds buy the rooms to make sure the young couple is safe out on their own, according to John Hunter, co-owner of Atlas Safe Rooms in Joplin.
“I know of a guy who asked a father to marry the daughter, and the father said, ‘Not unless you have a safe room,’” Hunter said.
(I suppose the "guy" referred to in the last paragraph should be thankful he didn't have to fork over a herd of goats or a pile of buffalo hides... ;-)
http://wivb.com/2016/05/30/storm-safe-room-as-a-wedding-gift-a-new-trend-in-tornado-alley/
Never mind toasters, blenders and slow cookers. Joplin, Missouri, tornado survivors Kayla and Ricky Smith had a more practical request for a wedding gift – shelter from the next big storm.
The Smiths were on the leading edge of an odd trend in Tornado Alley: Engaged couples using bridal registries or word of mouth to request donations so they can purchase safe rooms, which are strong, pre-fabricated shelters typically installed in houses or garages....
The Smiths weren’t yet married when the tornado came through Joplin. Kayla was with her parents in a car that was spun off the road into a yard. Ricky took shelter in his apartment stairwell. When he emerged, the building was gone. All were relatively unscathed.
As their wedding approached in 2013, they asked for safe room donations as wedding gifts, eventually building a $5,200 safe room in their garage. “It was really just our main necessity, something to keep us safe,” Kayla Smith, 29, said.
Sometimes, relatives of the newlyweds buy the rooms to make sure the young couple is safe out on their own, according to John Hunter, co-owner of Atlas Safe Rooms in Joplin.
“I know of a guy who asked a father to marry the daughter, and the father said, ‘Not unless you have a safe room,’” Hunter said.
(I suppose the "guy" referred to in the last paragraph should be thankful he didn't have to fork over a herd of goats or a pile of buffalo hides... ;-)
