Day of Service brings help to Cedar Rapids flood victims

Abby Dunner of Philadelphia cuts a piece of drywall at a Cedar Rapids home still recovering from June

Americans around the country followed the example of Martin Luther King Jr. and the call of President-elect Barack Obama to make this MLK Day “a day on, not a day off.”

The added emphasis on service to community and to others was perhaps nowhere more appreciated in Iowa than in flood-ravaged Cedar Rapids, where there has been no shortage of need. Today, however, the city saw a much-reduced demand for volunteers.

“I can’t thank these kids enough,” said homeowner Roger Roff as his eyes toured the newly installed drywall in his Hamilton Street home. “A lot of them probably didn’t know what drywall was before they started volunteering, but they’ve learned quickly. More importantly, they work hard.”

Roff is one of many Cedar Rapids residents who have benefited from the work of volunteers in the wake of the flood. Although people from all walks of life have come to Cedar Rapids to lend a hand, Roff’s helpers for the past three days have been AmeriCorps volunteers.

Samantha Gordon of Troy, Mich., and Jake Kelso of Crossville, Tenn., became involved in the volunteer effort through friends who were already participating in the program. Abby Dunner, a resident of Philadelphia, joined after hearing of the program during her senior year at college.

All three are part of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps, a full-time, team-based residential program for men and women between the ages of 18 and 24. Roff currently has eight of the total 20 Linn County team members volunteering in his home.

“We’ve been here in Iowa since July,” Gordon said. “And we’ve been primarily helping homeowners recover from the floods.”

Jake Kelso of Crossville, Tenn. attaches a newly cut piece of drywall in the soon-to-be restored kitchen of Cedar Rapids resident Roger Roff.

Roff was ordered to evacuate three days before the Cedar River crested. His home, which saw flood\waters roughly a foot high on the main floor, suffered extensive damage but was structurally sound. He’s hopeful that a month from now he’ll be able to vacate the mobile home provided to him by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and move back into his home.

Health concerns have made the Roff family’s journey even more difficult.

“It’s been … well, it’s been hard,” he said. “We paid the place off in May 2008. The floods hit on June 13. On June 23, I had a heart attack.”

Roff alternates between laughter and melancholy about his situation, and sprinkled the discussion with phrases like, “What can you do?” He knows what happened was and is out of his hands, but he knows he’d be in a worse predicament if it weren’t for the help of others like the volunteers.

“We had plaster and lathe inside the home,” he said before pointing out the window to where stucco and aluminum siding once hung. “There was this one girl — she was no bigger around than the leg on that ladder — but she came and worked her heart out removing that stucco and siding outside. All of them, all of the young people who have helped out have been amazing.”

Volunteers in Cedar Rapids not only worked to restore flood-damaged properties, they gave blood, donated money and material to shelters and food pantries, delivered meals to the elderly on those in need, shoveled snowy sidewalks and basically performed any tasks that needed to be done.

This year’s Day of Service was expected to be the largest in national history because Obama mobilized his grassroots network — a network forged and developed in Iowa during the caucus season — to give of themselves to their communities.

Although the official Day of Service will end, need in Cedar Rapids and other eastern Iowa communities will continue. Those interested in volunteering are encouraged to contact the East Central Iowa Volunteer Center at (319) 540-4810.