Relief Comes from Those That Want to Help – Flood Relief 2010
- August 3, 2010
- Uncategorized
- Posted by Runde Auto Group
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Jill Reimer, volunteers and 106.1 set up outside of the Kwik Stop off of North West Arterial to collect donations.
It’s not too often that we make national news around the Tri-States. When it happens, though, you know its gotta be something big. The Lake Delhi Dam failing and the resulting area flooding is something big. Devastation slowly ensued upon realization that the place so many called “home” was so severely damaged by the flooding. Homes, businesses, valuable items were lost and it left a lot of work to be done to get things cleaned up and restored.
There are good people out there, people who want to make a difference and help see others get back on their feet. Here are two great examples of just that:
Jill Reimer of Rainbo Oil coordinated the Trucks of Love donation collection. Cumulus 106.1 Super Hits broadcasted live to try to help raise donations and awareness.
I visited with Jill and she explained; “We got a list of needs from the flood areas and it’s mostly things like first-aid kids, mops, hand sanitizer, bleach, spray bottles – pretty much anything you would need to clean your home. A bunch of us went out on Monday and cut drywall, ripped out installation, and did what we could to help but there’s a lot of work still to be done. There are people who lost their house and as a result some lost their business, it’s a rough time for some people.”
Jill and other thoughtful volunteers were out collecting donations for Trucks of Love until Saturday, July 31st, when the event ended. But the flooded areas still could use help.
When hearing about the flood, Lynn Ford of Dubuque Iowa and a group of four high school students set out to make a difference and raise money for the flood victims. Lynn created t-shirts that they would sell at various locations on the Ragbrai route. Lynn’s team, consisting of Wahlert students; Katie Ford, Katherine Kremer, Mitch Theisen and Danny Broderick went to Waterloo all loaded-up with supplies in a van loaned them by Runde’s. They sold the shirts to spectators and bikers along the route to raise money for the flood relief victims.
Lynn and her team worked hard to put together this project in such a short amount of time. “I designed the t-shirts pretty much overnight and Tom at Vector Marketing got the shirts ready very quickly for us. We had Copy Works make up some donation receipt cards and included one with each shirt. These cards doubled as noisemakers clipped on to the Ragbrai riders bike forks that would click as they touched each bikers spokes.”
Lynn explains how she got involved with the event: “I got on the Chamber of Commerce website and saw that Kwik Stop and Dairy Queen were sponsoring “Trucks of Love” where people could donate items or cash and Trucks of Love volunteers would deliver them to drop-off points for the flood victims.
Like Jill Reimer said, “Just go out to one of the flooded area’s if you have some free time, see what can be done and help out any way you can.”
