Episcopal Press and News
A Flood of Volunteers Needed for Rebuilding in the Flood-ravaged Midwest
Episcopal News Service. May 18, 1994 [94105]
Nearly a year after historic flood waters deluged the Midwest, victims there are praying for another flood -- this time a rising tide of relief workers to help rebuild the damage left in the wake of the receding waters.
"The great flood of 1993 has become the lingering plague of 1994," said Gay Bryant, coordinator of Project Ark, the Episcopal Church's effort to respond to the flood. "While signs of hope do rise out of the mud, despair lingers as communities and farmers are locked between layers of bureaucracy... The government and the private sector are sometimes in cooperation, sometimes in conflict. In all times the flood's victims seem to be caught in the middle."
In a report to Province 5, composed of several midwestern dioceses affected by the flood, Bryant said that funds from the national church's Jubilee Ministry Program and the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief will keep Project Ark "afloat" in the summer of 1994 -- and that there is much work to do.
"The church, in its many denominational faces, continues to be a presence in the flood plains of the Midwest, offering counseling, labor, funds, materials and the reassurance that someone still cares," Bryant said.
According to Bryant, reconstruction is well under way in some areas. "Levees have been repaired, crops are going in, homes have been gutted and cleaned and await construction," she said.
However, in other areas she reported that there is an emerging litany of needs since there was no access to many homes until mid-November. "Standing water is still present, locked between levees or resting on high water table and saturated lands," Bryant said.
"Whole communities along the rivers await buy-out decisions," Bryant said. "Some land owners have forged ahead [to rebuild] without authorization and may face eviction when the government returns for final inspections," she added.
"Many small business owners have either had to pull out to higher ground or go out of business altogether, unable to ride out a year without income," Bryant reported. "One case in point is in the community of Grafton, Illinois, where the only grocer, in business since the 1940s, has closed. This leaves a community of 1,100 people 10 miles from bread and milk."
Trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) are cramped together in trailer parks, according to Bryant, and single trailers often house large families that formerly lived in widely spread areas. "Despair, substance abuse, domestic violence and family break-ups remain a constant threat," she added.
Bryant reported that Project Ark continues to receive requests from persons who ask, "What can I do to help?" She said that she is ready to connect volunteers to people who need help. "A vital part of the recovery process has been the presence of volunteers, for the much-needed physical assistance they give and the spiritual lift that their caring brings," Bryant said in a plea for volunteers.
"Spring and summer volunteers are needed for both skilled and unskilled labor," Bryant said. "Skilled crew leaders who can manage work teams... specializing in wiring, plumbing, framing and dry wall will be needed in the summer so that rebuilding can begin.
"Unskilled labor can be useful in those areas where cleanup has not yet begun, in policing and revitalizing the public roadways and parks, in reseeding, and in painting those homes that are habitable again," she added. "Groups coming to these areas need to be financially self-sufficient, willing to camp out in church halls and ready for hot, hard and very rewarding work."
Bryant also reported that, in addition to volunteers, there is a desperate need for financial gifts. "Many of those displaced by the flooding, particularly farmers, are still faced with loan payments on property, seed, fertilizer and feed costs, planting and harvesting expenses," she said. "There will be no income for these people until the 1994 crop is in."
"Many people who have jobs but no homes can meet day-to-day expenses, but lack the funds to replace appliances and furnishings, make down payments on loans to relocate or rebuild, pay ongoing utility costs at unoccupied homes, and replace cars and farm equipment lost in the levee breaks," she added.
"The list of monetary needs is endless and will be ongoing," Bryant concluded. "If every Episcopal communicant gave a dollar we could make a $2 million difference."