Iowa Project

 

Through spring and into summer 1993, the State of Iowa, and neighboring states of Missouri and Illinois, experienced unprecedented flooding of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and their many tributaries.  Hundreds of square miles of land were simply overrun by water, thousands of people lost their homes, businesses closed, and many roads, including the I-80 Interstate, were shut down to through travel.  The Rotary Club of Saco Bay reached out to the Rotary Club of Mount Pleasant Iowa during late 1993 to offer assistance.

To the surprise of the Rotary Club of Saco Bay, the Mount Pleasant Club did not request funding.  Rather, Mount Pleasant told us they desperately needed building supplies to assist with the re-building of lost homes.  Rotary Club of Saco Bay immediately promised to help.  Through the leadership of Past President Charlie Snow, the Club organized a drive for donated building materials.  This effort was substantially aided by Walmart, which graciously offered not only a tractor trailer box for collection, but also offered to haul all donated building supplies directly to Mount Pleasant using its drivers, at its expense! 

Supplies were collected during spring of 1994 after Walmart “dropped the box” at the Saco Hannaford’s store location.  Rotarians secured donations of lumber, dry wall, windows, plumbing supplies and fixtures, cabinets, even a toilet and kitchen sink.  Eventually, the trailer box was filled, and a plan was set for getting the materials to Mount Pleasant. 

On April 15, 1994, Walmart headed out with our loaded trailer box headed for Mount Pleasant.  Club Member Tim Murphy, who had spent seven years living in Midwest, traveled out to Mount Pleasant in advance of Walmart to liaison with the Mount Pleasant Club members, and to assist with the final delivery of donated materials.

Walmart’s truck, with the club’s donated building materials, arrived in Mount Pleasant on a beautiful, sunny April day.  The truck was then escorted down to a storage facility/family barn in Long Bay Bottoms, a site not far (six miles) from the Mississippi River.  There, high school students from Mount Pleasant, and the Rotarian Project Team, offloaded all the building supplies.  It was evident that supplies at the Long Bay Bottoms site were being continually accessed by the local Amish/Mennonite Community who had been coordinating with the Mount Pleasant Club, and acting as the prime labor force rebuilding damaged homes in the area, including re-building with the newly donated materials from the Rotary Club of Saco Bay.

The Project team also had opportunity to visit a completely rebuilt house near Long Bay Bottoms, and they enjoyed a wonderful home cooked dinner hosted by the Amish/Mennonite Community who reside just outside Mount Pleasant. 

                                                                       by Timothy Murphy