Posts Tagged ‘Bank on Indy’

Taken about 30 seconds after the blast

Today was quite the day here in Indianapolis. At about 10:45 this morning, a tanker containing between 500 and 1,000 gallons of liquid propane exploded at the I-69 and I-465 interchange on the city’s northeast side.

Brian Coles and I were on I-465 driving back from a meeting with our Bank on Indy clients at Mayor Greg Ballard’s office when we saw the 300-foot-high fireball directly ahead of us at about a quarter-mile. Though it only lasted about 10 seconds, it felt like a lot longer. It just kept blooming and climbing, blooming and climbing; so much so that we weren’t sure for a second whether we were actually out of harm’s way. Luckily, we were at an exit and pulled off.

Once we gathered our wits about 30 seconds later, I snapped the above picture. Imagine fire in place of that smoke and you start to get the idea. It was massive. We felt the heat of the blast on our faces through the windshield and just sat on the highway, dumbfounded, much like everyone else.

News from the blast didn’t trickle in until about 15 minutes later. We kept refreshing the Indy Star and local TV affiliates’ Web sites for information. I was surprised but relieved to hear that no one had died. Local news was reporting that before the blast, two very brave construction workers working at a site just off the highway pulled the driver from his cab and moved him to a safer place.

From a quarter-mile away, we were plenty scared. Imagine what they must have felt — but they saved the driver’s life, which I’m sure he’s thankful for.

Like many of my fellow Hoosiers, I’m also thankful today. It’s been a long week with not enough time to do everything that needs to be done — every week is like that, right? — and not enough sleep to go around (teething nine-month-old twin boys will do that to you). But there is enough time, and yeah, I’m a little tired today, but so what? I know what’s most important, and it’s not sleep.

Have a safe weekend and take a minute to count your blessings. You’ll have plenty of time to do so as you creatively make your way home tonight without the use of a whole interstate!

Bank on Indy will formally launch on Friday, Oct. 9, 2009, from 10 a.m. – noon with a rally at Riverside Park (2420 E. Riverside Drive, Indianapolis). At the rally, people can open a checking or savings account with any of the participating financial institutions.  Attendees will also have the chance to meet a surprise guest.                                                                               

After the rally, all Marion County branches of participating financial institutions will open new accounts for people interested in the Bank on Indy program.

For more information about Bank on Indy or for branches near you, call 2-1-1 or visit www.bankonindy.org. The Mayor’s Action Center will field all phone calls made to 2-1-1.

Working hard and getting results for our clients is a nice feeling. I know, I know. It sounds corny, but it’s true. Even better is when that hard work can potentially help everybody in the community.

That’s why, as a member of the Coles team, I’m more than excited and proud to be a part of Bank on Indy, a new public-private partnership aimed at educating the area’s unbanked population and bringing them into the financial mainstream.

By providing easy access to low-cost and no-cost banking and credit union services, including checking accounts, savings accounts and free financial consulting services, Bank on Indy will encourage people to:

* Write checks instead of buying money orders
* Avoid check-cashing fees
* Build savings
* Establish or rebuild credit
* Protect their money from theft/natural disasters
* Monitor their spending

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and First Lady Winnie Ballard will have more to say about Bank on Indy this  Thursday morning at 10 a.m. at City Market, directly across from the City-County Building in Downtown Indianapolis.

Click here for more information. We hope you can make it, and stay tuned over the next few weeks for a lot more!

P.S. Kudos to Tim Coulon for designing a great logo!