| Community
Center Grand Opening November 6, 2005 Chuck Banks State Director of USDA Rural Development |
 |
Thank you very much and I appreciate the invitation to come and join you all today on such a wonderful occasion. I ‘d just like to echo the comments of the Congressman. It’s such a wonderful day for the community of Franklin and I want to congratulate all of you for the spirit which you have shown to make this a reality.
USDA Rural Development becomes involved in a lot of projects across the state helping communities in economic growth in rural communities, many rural water projects across the state, rural health care projects, many community facility projects such as this.
The unique situation we had here is that most of those projects we get involved in with were helping a community replace that hospital or upgrade their water system or upgrade their community center. That was much different here. You all had a tremendous loss in this community. And like the Congressman I came down to this area with our staff and viewed the devastation. I was just taken aback by the destruction you had but also impressed after talking to a number of individuals with the spirit that you all had , the determination that everyone had to rebuild.
It is a wonderful day to be here and be a part of this. So thank you very much and congratulations to all and we certainly look forward to working with the community of Franklin on other projects. ----Chuck Banks, State of Kansas, Director of USDA Rural Development
