Greetings from the Dir. of Flood Recovery! It's been an interesting three weeks since I last sent an update. Most of the last few weeks I have spent recovering from an emergency appendectomy. But God is good and I am fully recovered!
On March 10 &11 we had case management training with Christy Smith from UMCOR. We had 25 people who attended and out of those 25, approximately 10 are volunteer case managers for the United Methodists! Christy and Cathy Earl from UMCOR, were also in Cedar Rapids to do a one day seminar on case management standards for the state. Thank you Christy and Cathy for bringing your gift of knowledge to Iowa!
I have been blessed to be invited to several churches over the last month to share the story of storm recovery. It's critical that we keep the story out there and I would love the opportunity to be invited to your church. I would be willing to come on Sunday morning for worship, during a UMW meeting, social gathering, evenings, daytimes - just let me know. (At least my appendix won't stop me from coming and hopefully nothing else will either!!)
As many of you know, Pastor Melisa Bracht-Wagner from First UMC in Marion is our volunteer/rebuild coordinator for the Cedar Rapids area AND the volunteer coordinator for all of eastern Iowa. I will be including in my emails, excerpts from an email that she sends out to Cedar Rapids area pastors every Tuesday.
From Pastor Melisa dated 3/24/09:
Alternative Spring Break for most colleges was last week. We had 14 teams. We not only survived, but God blessed the teams with wonderful weather and a variety of work experiences. We killed the romance of mold and assisted Matthew 25 with mapping. The Flood Office learned a few things for June. God is good! In June our office is assisting with housing and/or work for 2015 volunteers and in July only 1516.
Three house blessings are scheduled for March 29th, Praise Jesus! One home has been dragging along for awhile, as the homeowner didn't want to make decisions. Another was completed in 3 weeks.
Holy Week. In itself, it is a busy week - add 8 work teams, 4 intense flood meetings and intern interviews - God will certainly make a difference for the kingdom. Please pray for endurance for your Flood Recovery Office.
Congratulations to the Cedar Rapids local team: Last Friday "Mike Wood walked through the house with Patricia and two FEMA inspectors. the inspectors were very complimentary and said this was one of the best flood recovery houses they have seen - a great reflection of the work done by everyone!" Please stay tuned for the next direction the Cedar Rapids Local Volunteers will be taking.
Larry's Rebuild Story by Erica Zito and Melisa BW
After his home on the northwest side of Cedar Rapids was flooded in June, Larry bought a camper to live in. Her shared the small space with other displaced friends and lived there until the weather turned cold in November. Then he rented an apartment. But Larry again let friends who had been flooded move in with him. This time it violated a lease and risked his own housing.
The flood recovery office matched Larry with a church in Illinois, who donated $10,000 and 23 full days of labor to complete his house. This began in January, when Larry was really sick. Pastor Phil from Saint Paul's UMC was his case manager.
Two weeks ago Larry moved back in.
"If it wasn't for the volunteers and Pastor Phil, I'd be back in my camper," he said. Volunteers started with a shell of a house and with hard work, patience, money and love, turned it into a home. "They did a real fine job," Larry said. "Everything is perfect. Everything is beautiful. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before."
Larry was recently in the hospital, but when he gets better, he said he wants to volunteer to help other flood affected homeowners. "God as been smiling on me" he said.
Keep Fargo in your Prayers!
That's all for this now!
Becky Wood
Director of Recovery - Storms of 2008
Iowa Annual Conference of the UMC
cell: 515-238-5346
Office: 319-393-1607
