Disaster Relief in Iowa

It was a great week in Iowa working with the Churches of Christ Disaster Response Team (henceforth referred to as: DRT). I took ten people from Northeast including my family - Lenore, Sam, Anna and Lizzy - Rhonda Bever, Lynnis Conner (Rhonda's mom), Sue and Cody Price, Cara Gadow (a friend of Anna's from church) and Teresa Weber. Lenore, Rhonda, Lynnis and Sue worked in the kitchen preparing meals and packing lunches for the volunteer work teams. Lizzy worked full time in organizing and giving out supplies that had been donated. Teresa and I worked with the four teens (or nearly teen in Cody's case) and helped in the gutting out and cleaning up of three different flood affected houses. I really kind of enjoyed it when they gave us a bunch of hammers, nail pullers and power tools and said, "Now go and rip all of the walls, floors and fixtures out. It was really a lot of fun but it was a genuine help for the owners of the homes and an important first step toward getting to live in them again. My favorite tool for the job was a 17 pound spud bar. When you hit things with that...they move! I also had rock hard forearms and biceps after I got back. Those have gone soft again by now but they are not sore any more. I had a great crew. Teresa was a tireless worker and knew enough about what we were doing to need very little guidance. The kids were amazing as they worked this hard physical labor for 8-9 hours a day with no complaining at all. I was as proud as I could be!

Next week it is off to Charlotte, N.C. to join the teens from Northeast at their work camp. They leave Saturday and I will join them Thursday. It should be fun. We will be back a week after that and then leave again for 10 days of vacation. Busy summer!!