Greetings!
It's been a busy two weeks in the world of disaster recovery. I had the privilege of spending last week with 41 children at Camp Noah. Camp Noah is a camp opportunity for children who are flood survivors. Such a blessing to spend time with these children. I now have many new friends and have made new community connections with folks who helped as camp staff. In Cedar Rapids there were 4 camps offered. Three of them are staffed by national teams. The camp I helped with was staffed by local volunteers and paid staff, who attended training. One of the 1st grade boys told me on Friday "I sure am going to miss you Becky" and I will miss him too! What a healing experience for all who were involved!
We are still working hard on the "Block by Block" revitalization program in the flooded Cedar Rapids neighborhoods. If all goes as planned, we should be buying houses as soon as next week! I'll keep you posted!
Notes from Pastor Melisa:
We have a continued need for truck drivers. Please send me some names or emails of individuals who have trucks. Because the flood loves trucks. The truck drivers gather each day at 7:30 am in the flood recovery office to receive the list of the day. Typical runs include a trip to Menards, dropping off materials and moving supplies from a to b. Most days the trucks and their drivers are done in 2.5 hours.
As you bend your knees in prayers, please remember our current delay with plumbers and electricians. We bid out a project to see what the cost would be. the answer - is an additional $12,000. For homeowners who don't have the resources to complete their homes, this adds stress. Please pray that we are able to secure additional grants for materials and we are able to present some clients to the LALTRC roundtable.
That's all for now - have a wonderful week.
Becky Wood
Director of Recovery - Storms 2008
Iowa Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church
2200 Heritage Green Dr.
Hiawatha, IA 52233
(319) 393-1607 (office)
(515) 238-5346 (cell)
email: becky.wood@iaumc.org
