Mercury One volunteers ready to help in Oklahoma. Photo by Paige Perry

Don’t ever say that Americans don’t come together to help one another in times of crisis. In less than twenty-four hours, this audience has donated over $829,000 to the Mercury One’s 2013 Midwest Tornado Relief fund as of 10:00pm ET Tuesday night.

If you haven’t had a chance to donate, you can do so by clicking here or by visiting MercuryOne.org. If you’ve already donated, please tell your friends about what Mercury One has done today in Oklahoma and how they can still contribute to the fund to help the survivors of the tornado.

When Glenn first announced Mercury One, he did so in order to provide a platform for individuals and communities to take the lead in fixing the problems facing the country. Whether it be providing emergency relief from a natural disaster, helping a town devastated by recession, raising funds for military heroes like Chris Kyle, or bigger projects like inventing new ways to educate people about America’s history – Mercury One has focused on finding solutions through individuals, not the government. Hence its motto: “For government to do less we need to do more.”

Thanks to you, Glenn and a team of Mercury One volunteers were able to put out the call for help and – having started with nothing but an idea and a desire to help other – be on the ground in Oklahoma in a matter of hours.

What other audience would come together with such speed and generosity to help others? Truly, you’ve been an example to others not to sit back and just let FEMA or other large government agencies handle things just because it would be easy. Instead, you’ve shown that you practice what you preach.

Critics like to say that Americans would suffer without a big government there to take care of every problem, but today has shown that individuals can and will provide the money and resources to lead the way when help is needed.

In recent weeks, Glenn has proudly declared “We are the first responders”. Today you all stepped up and turned those words into a reality.

It’s not the first time you’ve led the way, and it certainly won’t be the last.

Glenn will be back tomorrow, and will surely have much more to say about his experience on the ground in Oklahoma.

From all of us at Mercury Radio Arts, TheBlaze, and Mercury One – we sincerely thank you for all that you do and for being an example for others in your community.

-

Wilson Garrett

Managing Editor, GlennBeck.com

The overwhelming majority of human beings, left and right, are decent people. But there are always those who seem to have certain inhuman qualities. Like those who, after Glenn urged people to support tornado victims via a tweet, responded with hate tweets such as ‘Tell that racist Glenn Beck to go die’.

“But as I was trying to answer some of those tweets last night, it took everything in me to be good. Everything in me to be good,” Glenn explained.

Why was it so hard? Check out some of the hate from the left:

“@levertis_minter: @glennbeck Be sure to involve your name and brand as much as possible in this tragedy.”SURE: mercuryone.org. Give

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) May 21, 2013

“@mutzerkitzler: @glennbeck maybe ask God why he leveled a few towns?”HE DOESN’T. WIND DOES.HE LOVES AND SO SHOULD WE.

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) May 21, 2013

“@griffen: People donated money to @glennbeck? What the fuck for?”PEOPLE WHO JUST LOST EVERYTHING.ARE AFRAID AND MOURNING.MERCURYONE.ORG HELP

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) May 21, 2013

“@notreallyironic: @trevorh321 @glennbeck I made my donation. Glen needs ratings.”I am sure those suffering tonight thank you. As do all.

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) May 21, 2013

“@calebrapoport:@glennbeck Please build the Beckwood Commune (Klanville)right there in tornado alley.It’s the perfect spot for you lot.LOVE!

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) May 21, 2013

But as Glenn said as he approached Oklahoma:

Those with eyes SEE: it only gets harder from here. LOVE. Practice it now. Let them use the water hose. YOU are MLK. Stand, speak. Love.

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) May 21, 2013

“You know, I don’t know if I changed a single heart in any of those tweets, but if we all did it, if we all behaved that way and instead of writing those people and private messaging people like that, nasty, if we were always nice, believe me it makes a difference over time. But it doesn’t have to be a long time. If we set ourselves apart from everyone else,” Glenn said.

by Paige Perry

Transcript of interview below:

GLENN: While there are those in the media that want to make this about global warming and everything else, let’s take a moment and just talk about the people in Oklahoma and the people that were affected yesterday by a mammoth storm. Governor Mary Fallin is here. She was just on the scene. You were here ‑‑ were you at the school last night as well?

FALLIN: I was. I was at the school very late last night down when we were trying to still find people and find the children.

GLENN: I’ve never seen ‑‑ I’ve never been to a ‑‑ I mean action I’ve been to hurricanes, I’ve been in hurricanes. Frightening. Never seen anything like a tornado before. It is truly terrifying, and the school, there is ‑‑ there’s nothing left. There’s nothing left. How do you ‑‑ I said when we pulled up, I got out of the car and I said I wouldn’t even know where to begin. Where do you begin?

FALLIN: One of the things that was interesting last night that the local authorities told me was that they weren’t sure where the streets were. They couldn’t tell where businesses were, where homes were lost and I heard the mayor say, you know, one of the things we’ve got to do is get the names of the streets up because the tornado path was so wide. It was two miles wide. And as you just said, it was basically sticks and stones and metal and debris that was just thrown all over and the buildings were totally leveled, not just for a couple of blocks but for miles wide where the tremendous path the tornado crossed.

GLENN: So tell me the ‑‑ and I’m sure they’re here and I don’t want to besmirch them ‑‑ yes, I do want to but I’m not going to. The FEMA. I didn’t see FEMA here. I saw a lot of local and state agencies, and everybody seems to be operating well. What is needed here now?

FALLIN: Well, actually, Glenn, it’s pretty remarkable. Oklahoma has unfortunately been through so many different disasters over the years that we have a very good plan of action and we know how to work together and we now how important it is to collaborate, to communicate, to bring all the local, state and federal authorities along with the charities together to develop a game plan and so actually Saturday we had started talking to our citizens that conditions were going to be ripe for some severe weather for three days, for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and, sure enough, on Sunday we saw the first tornadoes begin to strike and then, of course, yesterday. But we had our state emergency operations center up and running on Saturday, prepared with the different, different groups all in one command center at the capital. And I will tell you that FEMA was on the scene immediately on Sunday after we had the first storms that came through and we lost a couple of lives and lost several homes, many homes and structures during that time period. But FEMA was very good to respond, and the president did call yesterday and they did give us notice last night that our federal emergency disaster declaration was approved, which will help us get the resources that we need and the federal financial support that we need to help these communities.

GLENN: Okay. Can I ask you a question? Why ‑‑ and I don’t mean this ‑‑ I mean, I really like the people from Oklahoma. But I grew up in Seattle and, you know, the ‑‑ sunshine is extreme weather. I have no idea why you would live ‑‑ this town, Moore, was hit, and the highest winds ever measured on the surface of the Earth at 302 miles an hour happened here. Same area in 1999, same area just hit yesterday, same people. What the hell are you thinking? I mean, really, I mean, as an outsider why do you stay?

FALLIN: Oh, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but Oklahoma. If you ever experience a tragedy, whether it’s in your personal life, your community or your state, you want to be in Oklahoma. This is the very best state with the very best people. And I love the other part of United States, but time and time again, whether it’s been from the 1995 Murrah federal building bombing to the May 3rd tornado that actually hit at this same location, as you said. In fact, we’re sitting in the same church where the command center was at that time where we fed the citizens, the volunteers, the emergency personnel happened right here at this church. But our people are the best. They are the best at coming together. If you watch the news, immediately when the tornado had just gone back up and moved through the community but gone back up in the air, moved through the community, you saw people immediately on the ground helping their fellow neighbors, and we’re the best at giving our resources, giving our money, doing whatever it takes to get back on our feet. And we have a tremendous amount of courage and perseverance and we will grow back even stronger. In fact, Oklahoma’s a very strong state right now. We have a great economy, we have a great quality of life and we certainly have a great spirit.

GLENN: Okay. If I’m sitting with ‑‑ and again, the people of New Jersey are great and there was some amazing things happened in New Jersey and we were there and we saw just amazing people. But if I’m sitting here with Governor Christie, I expect a pat politician answer to this. I have a feeling your answer will be different. How important are the churches to what is happening on the streets right now?

FALLIN: Well, it’s more the spirit of Oklahomans. It is a God‑fearing state. It is a state that has a tremendous amount of faith and compassion and strength and resilience, and we help our fellow neighbors. You know, we come together in time of need and that’s what’s made our state one of the top states in the nation in job creation right now and having a very strong economic recovery from the national recession that we just went through. It’s our people and it’s the spirit of that. And certainly we do have many great faith organizations and churches and synagogues and temples and different things that people worship at, and we believe in faith. And that’s a very important part of the fabric of the State of Oklahoma.

GLENN: Okay. Governor, thank you. I know you have a billion things to do today and you have mud on your shoes, as do I, and you ‑‑ but you’ve had them on for several days. Thank you so much. And anything we can do to help you, just let us know.

FALLIN: Continue sending your prayers. And we appreciate the money using raising for Oklahoma. There is going to be a tremendous amount of need.

GLENN: Thank you so much.

Unfortunately there are some on Twitter who disagree.

One of these individuals is creator of the Daily Show Lizz Winstead, who took to Twitter yesterday to say, “This tornado is in Oklahoma so clearly it has been ordered to only target conservatives.” Many who came across the message were rightfully outraged, however, there is a catch. Winstead made the insensitive statement before the devastation of the storm was know. Once the seriousness of what took place in Moore, OK came to light, Winstead quickly took back to twitter to apologize and own up to the moronic comment.

Made a political joke, Twas before devastation revealed. In hindsight, had I understood, I would have refrained. Beyond sorry. #LetMeHaveIt

— Lizz Winstead (@lizzwinstead) May 20, 2013

While Lizz Winstead might not be the brightest crayon in the box, the intent of the tweet does not appear to be malicious.

Following her apology, which included #LetMeHaveIt, many did just that. Glenn however, wasn’t so quick to “cast the first stone.”

Leave lizz winstead alone.Clearly bad joke.How many of us has made a joke we wished we could take back?She has to feel awful.#castfirststone

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) May 21, 2013

This morning on radio, Glenn, Pat and Stu discussed the comment further.

“Obviously this is not a break that anyone on the left would ever give you,” Stu pointed out. “The would never attempt to understand what happened.”

“Not in a million years,” Pat added.

Natural disasters cause major disruptions to our lives. Preparing yourself both mentally and physically for the harsh reality that may present itself will help you to ride out the storm in the best possible position to handle the aftermath of the disaster.

The following are 10 essential tips to follow in your own preparedness process.

1. Have a positive attitude. Your survival will often be the result of your own personal outlook. Accepting the situation for it’s unfortunate reality rather than playing the victim and waiting to be rescued is most often the difference between those who survive a natural disaster and those who do not.

2. Have a plan in place. Every family should have their own Emergency Readiness Plan. Your family will likely not be together when the disaster strikes so it’s important for everyone in your family to know ahead of time how you will contact one another, where to go and what to do in different situations. It’s important these plans be communicated and discussed at regular intervals as circumstances and scenarios may change throughout the year.

3. Know where to go and know how to get there. Safe Havens should be identified as early and as often as possible. This means knowing where to go if you can’t get home, and knowing where you can safely go if you have to evacuate your home.

4. Go-bags should be packed and ready at all times. A “go-bag” is the bag your grab when it’s time to “Go,” as in right now when the time required to plan, prep and pack will mitigate your chance of survival. The premise is such that your go-bag is always packed, ready and waiting with the essentials you will need to survive for two nights and three days in the outdoor terrain of your approximate location and in current local climate. No creature comforts; just the necessities to survive, contained in a packaged weight, affording you the ability to remain mobile. Keep in mind; your packing list may change throughout the year dependent upon the time of year, the season, your location, your medical requirements and your physical ability. You should be well versed in terms of your bag’s content, knowledgeable of item location, and organized for ease of use.

Everyone who is physically able to carry a pack should have one. Your own individual packing list may vary based on personal preference and necessity, but the contents of the one below serves as an excellent tutorial on what constitutes essentials. If you only do one thing to prepare beyond your in-home food and water storage, this is it. This is what you need. Everyone should have one. Build or buy one today. Many pre-customized options are available on-line. 

5. Decide right now what’s most important. In the event you should ever need to evacuate from your home, your go-bag should already be packed, ready and waiting for you at a moments notice. If you have more than a moment to prepare and evacuate, have a contingency list of what’s most important to save from your home based on you own personal priority. Whatever you decide is most important to save, list them in order of priority in case time runs out. Important documents, photographs, family heirlooms, pets and valuables you can use for barter should be considered but remember that nothing is more important than the lives of your family.

6. Have emergency rations on-hand. Food and water will become more difficult to acquire depending on the severity and duration. Safeguard yourself from future stress and stock-up on reserves of bottled water and shelf-stable food that can keep your family properly nourished for handling the inherent stress of your situation.

7. Prepare for power outages. Today, all of our communication devices require a charge and your mobile devices will be critical to helping you negotiate your way to a better day. While a few commercial venues with back-up generators may be able to facilitate the needs of the few, they most certainly will not be able to cater to the needs of the many. So skip the Starbucks iPhone-charging line and invest in this universal solar-charging unit. Goal Zero has a great selection of solar charges available for every budget. 

8. Understand the importance of ice. Have some extra bags of ice in the freezer, king-cubes will last you longer than the icemaker variety. Ice will help keep your refrigerator and freezer functional for a day or two after the power goes out. Fill up a few tuba-ware containers filled with water and freeze overnight. Keep as many frozen bricks in your freezer as you can. Ice does more than chill your drinks, there are medical uses (Blister Burn, splinter removal, oral numbness to treat tooth pain, and soft tissue injury to name a few, so having some on hand will prove beneficial to your cause. Ice will also help keep essential medicine like insulin properly refrigerated. If a natural disaster is imminent, try to make as much ice as possible before the power goes out.

9. Know the “safe-spots” in your home. Stairwells or spaces under large beams provide “survival voids” that rescue workers check first.

10. Maximize Insurance and fortify your home. This will of course require the most foresight and preparation, and will not aid you when the warning whistles blow, but looking out for things like dead-trees which may blow over in strong winds, or readily upgrading your homes doors, windows, roofs will play a significant role in the face of a natural disaster.

It’s important to keep in mind that we can not often prevent disasters, but we can be prepared…and when a natural disaster does strike, you’ll be glad you were ready.

Preparing today for a safer tomorrow will always be the best course of action.

Photo by Paige Perry

Donate to the Mercury One Midwest Tornado Relief Fund HERE.

“Yesterday I completed my television show at 5:00 and I… I walked off the air, and the head of Mercury One said to me, ‘Glenn, just a devastating tornado in Oklahoma in a little town called Moore, Oklahoma’,” Glenn said on radio this morning.

“Joe came to me and he said ‘Devastation’.  I said, ‘Well, I think we should get there as soon as we can.’”

“So last night I tweeted:  Does anybody, anybody have a couple of tractor‑trailers we can borrow for the night?  And about 9:30 last night my team was packed and ready to go and the tractor‑trailers that had been supplied really by a local church were already at the gates of a place called Operation Blessing.  It’s an organization that we have helped fill the pantries of and they have helped deliver food for different things whenever there’s been a crisis.  We couldn’t use their trucks this time because they were all on the East Coast and it would be a couple of days.  We knew that here in this little teeny town in Oklahoma, there were people that needed food and water and just whatever it is that we need to run our life every day.  They needed it not in a couple of days but last night, early this morning.  So we loaded up the trucks, two eighteen‑wheelers and four SUVs hit the road last night about 11:00.  We arrived here about 4:00 a.m.”

Photo by Mark Mabry

Photo by Mark Mabry

Photo by Mark Mabry

“And so we pull up to the place that is kind of the Epicenter for anybody who is hungry, anybody who is in need, anybody who needs a bed, anybody who needs someplace to gather together as a family because they’ve lost everything. It’s the First Baptist Church here in Moore. And we pulled up, I don’t know, about 4:00 or 5:00 this morning. They just finished unloading the second truck about 20 minutes ago,” Glenn continued.

Photo by Paige Perry

Photo by Paige Perry

“As I went to see the devastation early this morning before the sun was up, it was raining again and lightning was streaking across the sky, and a woman came up to me. Surprising how many people are just wearing flip‑flops, wearing pajamas, wearing anything that they happened to have on. And she came up to me in her flip‑flops and her T‑shirt and she said, is this where we can get food? Is there going to be breakfast served here? And I said, “Yes, ma’am. I don’t know all the details, but I think it’s right on the other side of the church building is where you can get a hot meal.”

Photo by Paige Perry

“We drove past all of the places that were reporters. All the reporters are kind of outside a specific zone. Some of them have been allowed into this hospital here I’ll tell you about here in a second. But most of them are sitting outside of the zone. Police have stopped all of them from coming in. I can understand why. Like vultures they circled this building last night. Like vultures they circled this building this morning wanting to get an interview with one of the family members who had lost a child last night. People from the police and fire and sheriffs, churches, the volunteers sickened by them,” Glenn said.

Photo by Paige Perry

“We went through the barricades and we did a different group of interviews this morning. I think if you need a sobbing parent to tell you what it was like to lose their child within a couple of hours after losing their child, I think there’s something wrong with you. Instead while everybody else is here in their battle fatigues trying to look like “We’re really important and we’re going to tell you exactly what happened,” we quietly went around with our cameras and our microphones and I just talked to the people that were coming from different states, people who had come in from their churches, people who had come in from their firehouses, people who heard about it and just called somebody and said ‘We’ve got to go and help.’”

Photo by Paige Perry

“I went and I talked to the district manager of the Home Depot because there in the midst of the devastation, on one side of the street is a strip mall that has just been devastation, cause blown through the windows, nothing on the roof, trees stripped of their bark. And on the other side is the Home Depot.”

Photo by Paige Perry

Photo by Paige Perry

“Home Depot opened their doors, kept them open for the First Responders and anybody that needed anything. You need a shovel, you need a flashlight, you need some plywood? What do you need? The cash registers were locked. The cash registers were turned off.”

Photo by Mark Mabry

“You see, I found something interesting this morning. I found that the State was here. I found that the local was here, found the sheriff’s department, the police departments, I found the fire departments from several different states. One national organization that I did recognize. I noticed that the Salvation Army was here. They were feeding the First Responders. I didn’t see FEMA. I saw the National Guard, but that’s under the direction of the governor. I didn’t see the FEMA trucks yet. Perhaps they’re here. But what I did see are the churches, the pastors, the priests, the people of faith.

“I ran into a guy from Dallas, Texas. What was the name of that, the Minutemen. The Minutemen from Dallas, Texas. They said they went up to help the people at the last hurricane. They said they learned a lot. And the thing they learned about, the thing they really realized is here are men that are supposed to be good Christian men who sat in their pews. They sat in their pews and they didn’t really do a lot. They read the scriptures and they said their prayers and they took care of their families and they ran their businesses, but they weren’t really involved. And then Joplin happened.”

Photo by Paige Perry

“And when Joplin happened, they decided, ‘We have to go help,’ and they did. And when they were there, they realized, ‘We’re not fast enough. We’re not prepared enough.’ And so this group of businessmen, this group of Christian men got together and started something called the Minutemen. You’ll meet them tonight on television. An amazing idea.”

“I told them we would sit down and talk because they are exactly the kind of people that Mercury One wants to find and help fund. They’re exactly the kind of people that you need to hear the story because there should be Minutemen all around the country.”

“I got a lot of heat on Twitter last night for saying that we’re the First Responders. ‘Who does Glenn Beck think he is?’ I don’t know. An American citizen. That’s who I think I am. I don’t know. A Christian. You’re right, I’m not FEMA. I actually wear that as a badge of honor and I think everybody here should wear that as a badge of honor as well. We’re here because we love each other. We’re here because we’re an American. We’re here because, don’t you want to feel for your fellow man?”

Photo by Mark Mabry

Photo by Mark Mabry

Photo by Mark Mabry

Photo by Mark Mabry

“I’m sitting in an upper room at this church now, this conference room with big glass windows and I’m looking at the gray sky of Oklahoma, the traffic that is stuck on the interstate, and I’m seeing a big water tank that says “Moore, Home of Toby Keith.” Even though I know Toby, even though I know Toby listens, even though I have pictured him listening, writing his songs in his head while he’s driving that tractor, I still won’t think of Moore as the home of Toby Keith. I’ll think of Moore as one incredible town that knows what America is supposed to be like. That knows you don’t give up, you don’t pack it in, you don’t walk away, you don’t wait, you don’t make a sign that says “help.” You help each other. You help yourself. Makes you stronger. Moore isn’t the home of Toby Keith. Moore is just one great town in Oklahoma where a country singer happens to live.”

“Last night I’m proud to say that our audience is so amazing. Last night on Twitter and Facebook, I suggested that if you knew of somebody that could provide a truck or two, we sure would like their help. And that you could donate. 100% of the proceeds if you donate to MercuryOne.org now, you click on the tornado disaster relief. Every dollar raised will go, 100% will go to Moore and that’s one of the reasons why we’re on the ground now, to see where that money should go. Who needs it? Who’s not going to waist your money? Who’s going to make the most of that dollar? I would urge you to go to MercuryOne.org now and donate. I’m proud to say it’s now up to $121,000 and we haven’t even mentioned it on the air yet.”

Photo by Mark Mabry

Photo by Mark Mabry

Photo by Mark Mabry

You can donate to the Mercury One tornado relief fund HERE

Hours after the tornadoes tore through Oklahoma on Monday, Glenn announced via Twitter that he was headed to the state alongside Mercury One and Operation Blessing to deliver relief.

Shortly after his TV show ended, Glenn put out the call on Twitter for anyone with trucks to help with relief:

Are there two tractor trailer trucks and drivers in the forth worth area that I’d I could load them with food tonight they could drive 2 OK?

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) May 20, 2013

I could rent uhaul but M1has two tractor trailers worth of food and water. Need trucks and drivers. Wantto load now,M1 on site in OK in 90

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) May 21, 2013

Glenn said that Governor Perry offered to help, and would clear any red tape so that individuals could lead the relief effort:

Gov perry already offered to help MOne. We don’t want or need gov to spend $. He will clear red tape. WE R 1ST RESPONDERS.WE HAVE EACH OTHER

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) May 21, 2013

At 10:55pm ET, Glenn announced they had found the trucks they needed to get the supplies to Oklahoma:

THANK GOD, THANK YOU.We have the trucks. We load within the hour.Mercuryone&operationblessing. I will be on site by 3am.theblaze.com

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) May 21, 2013

100% of donations at Mercuryone.org will go to Ok relief.I just got report of where I will be delivering supplies 2nite.We all wept.

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) May 21, 2013