Attitude -- You Gotta Have Heart!

When an F-5 tornado slammed into Parkersburg, IA, the people of Parkersburg and the surrounding area didn't wait for the goverment to come help. Within a hours after the storm, they had two major problems -- (1) too much volunteer help and (2) supplies and monies from the surrounding area were coming in faster than they had the system and facilities to accommodate them. There is a lesson to learn here!

Seeing the surrounding schools, competitors during sports seasons, picking up brooms, mops, shovels, and rakes, loading onto school buses and going in to help the town clean up the schools gives a whole new meaning to 'sportsmanship.' About 40 track students and adults from the Knoxville/Pella, Iowa area had a 'run for tornado relief'.' They ran the 127 miles to Parkersburg, collecting donations in their bright orange backpacks along the way. This money was presented to the Aplington/Parkersburg School District for athletic supplies and equipment. They lost everything in the tornado.

Yes, there was some looting and yes, the National Guard was sent in to protect the area, but you didn't see anyone standing on rooftops cursing and blaming the government. You may see it tomorrow, but not today! Haven't been more than a handful of arrests for looting or fighting throught the whole tornado - flooding spring here in Iowa.

The high school coaches are voluneering their football, basketball, wrestling teams to sandbag -- guess that kinda insures you have a place on the team in the fall!

And, on top of all of this, the NCAA Track and Field events were being held in Des Moines during the floods. They had to move the teams out of the hotels downtown. But, in the midst of all of the flooding, they completed all events. A runner from Arizona said she was quite in awe of what she was seeing. She said she never saw so much water in one place! Other athletes from schools out of state volunteered to fill and carry sandbags after their track events.

I guess it isn't quite the same situation, but to see the difference in attitude between this and what we have seen during some other weather events is amazing -- there is such a volunteer effort. Some help is actually being turned away and sent to other locations.

The storms that came across the state slammed into a Boy Scout Camp on the Iowa/Nebraska border. The camp took a direct hit and 4 scouts were killed. According to the news, there were many young heroes at that camp. Most of the trees and debris blocking the lanes into camp were cleared by the scouts -- they located the maintenance shed, grabbed the chain saws and went to work. One of the rescuers commented that many of the victims had been given some first aid by the time they got there. Those young men need to be rewarded for their efforts and heroism.

After all of the flooding, storms, rain and more flooding, most of the people still have a sense of humor. Oh, yes, they are depressed and tired, but they still find the sunny spots and the humor! And they just keep volunteering to help others even when they have watched their home submit to the river.

One lady commented, as she was looking at her home with 4 feet of water on the first floor, that she lived through the 1993 flood that they called the "100 year flood" -- she thought this must be the '115 year flood' since it came so soon after the other. Others, looking over their destroyed property tell you, "This is the price you pay for a view of the river."

Oh, they are getting tired and cranky, but they are still volunteering to help. The schools donated buses (and that's a lot of diesel/gas expense!) to haul volunteers from parking lots (used as meeting places) and take them where they were needed to fill and pile sandbags.

Iowa certainly hasn't let the floods get them down -- Des Moines was scheduled to have an Olympic-trials Triathlon event -- but the area was under water -- so they moved it to West Des Moines and have been running, biking and swimming all weekend. Thousands are in town for that -- half of the motels, hotels, restaurants are still out of commission but they are having the triathlon! AND, the Iowa Speedway is having a scheduled Indy Car Race -- some of the roads to the speedway are washed out -- but the race is going on! Free tickets and transportation are given to some of the people still in shelters and all of the events are asking for donations for the food pantries as you enter. Then they pass the bucket and collect $$$ for the Red Cross or some other church charity that is sending people in to help with clean up. Amazing -- many are still under water and will need their money, but in the meantime, they are donating to the "cause" and helping others until they can get to their own place.

There have been numerous fund raisers and radio-thons to raise money. Seems strange to be asking those that have lost so much to give -- but they do and they are!

A radio station in Minnesota had a "Send It South" radio-thon to raise $$$ for Iowa -- and all of the minor league baseball teams that can get to their fields to play games are passing the bucket at the games for donations. Can't go anywhere without some kind of can or bucket to collect your change.

Hey, I'm impressed -- they seem to have it under conrol -- some areas have tents or awnings set up with counselors and pastors to help with the emotional stuff. Sounds like they are trying to cover all of the bases.

The media was providing near 24 hour coverage. Crawling along the bottom of the TV screen was a constant list of phone number and locations for assistance. I'm sure valuable lessons were learned from the Big Flood of 1993 and more lessons will be learned this year. When it comes again -- and it will come again -- the volunteer efforts will be there and the work will get done.

Although the flooding and severe tornado damage that occured in Iowa this spring is no longer on the news, the heartache and recovery work is on-going.