Greetings from the Director of Recovery!
Spring is making a comeback - YEAH!
Next week myself, along with six other folks from the Iowa Conference will be traveling to Indiana for the North Central Jurisdiction Disaster Response Academy. We will be gaining new knowledge on how to better respond to disasters, help our neighbors and connect with other folks from the North Central Jurisdiction. A great big THANK YOU to Jean and Dan Houston who did a lot of recruiting - it's exciting that we have SIX people attending this Academy!
I had a very rewarding experience last Saturday as Melisa and I were interviewing possible interns for this summer. We interviewed six candidates and it was a blessing to meet six young adults who were felt God had called them and were wanting to answer that call, by devoting their whole summer to helping with flood recovery!
I received notification from the Coalition in Johnson County that Camp Noah is coming to Iowa City! Camp Noah is aimed at children who were affected by the 2008 flood, but is open to all children in Kindergarten - 6th grade during the 2008-09 school year. The camp helps children process the flood or other stressors in their lives and teaches coping skills and how to be resilient in the face of adversity. Local congregations can help by providing: financial assistance, prepare pack items, donate food and craft supplies. Camp Noah organizers also need local church help with publicizing the camp and reaching the children who could most benefit from this experience.
For more information about Camp Noah, please contact Heather Woodin, Saint Andrew Presbyterian Church, 1300 Melrose Ave., Iowa City, 319-338-7523, heatherw@saintandrew-ic.org.
I also want to make you aware of a program that is sponsored by the DNR, Project A.W.A.R.E.
This is the 7th Annual Project AWARE and it will be held June 20-27, 2008 on the Cedar River. This is a volunteer river cleanup. For more information go to www.iowaprojectaware.com. Your congregation or social group may want to consider gathering a team and spending a week cleaning up along the Cedar River!
Notes from Pastor Melisa Bracht-Wagner
With our 5 teams representing 5 states and 4 denominations this week, we are working 8 hours a day in 5 houses. This represents a lot of work and a lot of people but it is on 2% of what will be here in June. In fact, we have 4 weeks in June where we will have more people working through UMVIM/UMCOR than reside in the community of Center Point!
Please pray for the Greater Cedar rapids Foundation and Rockwell Collins Flood Recovery as they are reviewing two grants totaling $75,000. This money is needed to help fill in the gaps. What is a gap? A gap is the amount missing from FEMA award before a homeowner can apply to Jumpstart. This funding will allow us to work on several homes quickly. We do require the homeowner to replace material dollars when their Jumpstart funding comes through.
Congratulations to Phil Rogers for the article in the Gazette. God is working as we rebuild our community.
htt://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20090411/NEWS/704119962
The NOMADS are here, the NOMADS are here. Many thanks to Living Water for the welcoming banner. This group of skilled volunteers are ready to transform our highly skilled needs.
CURRENT STATS: We have completed 16 homes and actively working in 26 others. As of march 31, 2009, 66,125 volunteer hours have been recorded with 3755 volunteers from 42 states.
That's it this week from the Storm Recovery Team!
