I received this message from the Rebuild and Grow organization, which is involved with flood relief and reconstruction in Cedar Rapids:
Dear Friends;
There will be a call out to local volunteers every weekend beginning on September 13th until the winter weather forces us to stop!
Registration will take place between 7 am and 1 pm each Saturday at Salem Church, 225 1st Ave SW! Come often and tell everyone you know! Come alone or bring friends, co-workers, family, a church group or anyone that you know is looking to make a difference. Please forward this e mail to all those that you want to engage in this effort.
This effort has been sanctioned by Cedar Rapids City Government and will be assisted by various city agencies and wide array of local organizations.
Help us as we work to rebuild, restore and renew a sense of community and hope for our neighbors in their time of need. We are all in this together.
The emergency status in our city did not end as the water receded; it will be a long term process to recover from a disaster of this magnitude. We can show the world that our spirit of community volunteerism and involvement in Cedar Rapids did not end with the sandbagging before the flood.
As you register each Saturday, we will organize into teams and have tools ready to go for each job site. You will be able join in with experienced, hard-working crews from AmeriCorps VISTA, Hands-On Disaster Recovery and others that have been working on neighborhood recovery since the flood occurred. There will be a safety orientation before you start at a flood recovery job site.
Regardless of your skills, we need your help! Teams will gut homes, clean yards and secure doors and windows for winter. We will also have needs for food/water distribution, signing up volunteers and other miscellaneous opportunities. Water and snacks will be provided during the clean-up. At the end of the day there will be music and food to celebrate all that has been accomplished.
If you are (or know) a homeowner that needs FREE help with the clean-up of their flood-damaged property, please contact us as soon as possible.
To contact our volunteer team or request more information:
Phone-319-329-8122 or Email: FloodVolunteer@gmail.com
You can also sign up in advance at the Volunteer Reception Center
Mon-Fri, 8 am to 6 pm; Call 319-540-4815
The Flood of 2008 requires an emergency level of response. The recovery response requires the same level of community involvement and commitment after the flood that we saw exhibited by the citizens of Cedar Rapids during the sandbagging before the flood. The sandbagging demonstrated the kind of community we really are. Now we need to get back in emergency mode to be ready for the imminent challenges of an Iowa Winter.
In a major disaster there are three approaches to action;
1. do it “to em” -exploitive contractors and other profiteers show up on the scene
2. do it “for them” -traditional governmental or agency “victim mode”
this approach has very little public input and self-determination
3. do it “with them” the self-help approach we are modeling with Rebuild and Grow. Our goal is to offer the opportunity for flood “victims” to become “survivors”. We shift to “survivor”, by accepting self-sufficient action.
Rebuild And Grow will partner closely with all other entities that are rising to the cause of flood recovery in our area, such as Linn Area Long Term Recovery Coalition, The East Central Volunteer Reception Center, Corridorrecovery.org, Hands On and numerous faith based disaster recovery groups, etc. Rebuild And Grow simply serves as one catalyst to pull all of us together for effective “proactive” neighborhood recovery and rebuilding activity. Our focus is self-help.
We need “all hands on deck” to organize a very effective community wide emergency response for recovery. Rebuild And Grow is taking the initiative to call forth a partnering approach for self-help work. We’ll work with all other available groups to build a community wide organizational capacity.
Click here for background on the comprehensive flood recovery program that Rebuild and Grow submitted to the Cedar Rapids City Council last month.
Governor Chet Culver is expected to decide within the next week whether to call a special legislative session to deal with flood relief and recovery issues. Both Democratic and Republican legislators from the Cedar Rapids area have advocated for a special session, and I agree with them.