Greetings from Becky Wood, Director of Storm Recovery!
It has been a busy week for me! I have traveled to a lot of beautiful communities; Parkersburg, Allison, Janesville, Independence and I've had the privilege of meeting many wonderful people! What I've learned this week is the reality of how extensive the damage is to our rural communities.
I reside in Cedar Rapids and it would be easy to focus just on the needs of my community, but we need to remember our brothers and sisters living in small towns. I have attended Long Term Recovery Committee meetings in Black Hawk, Butler, Buchanan, and Linn County and there is a common thread at each meeting - how are we going to take care of all of the unmet needs of our communities and how are we going to get enough volunteers to put our communities back together? Just in Black Hawk County alone the unmet needs are estimated at $900,000. This means that $900,000 is needed just to meet needs such as refrigerators, stoves, bedding, pot and pans - every day needs.
My message for this week to all of you, is please give prayerful consideration to giving a donation for storm recovery and as always we need volunteers! And please feel free to contact me if you have concerns, questions or a story to share.
God's Peace,
Becky Wood
Director of Recovery -Storms of 2008
2200 Heritage Green Dr.
Hiawatha, IA 52233
515-238-5346
