Thanks to all of you who have helped in the flood gutting, cleaning and rebuilding; thousands of hours have been logged with many more to come! This year-long effort is Sacrificial Stewardship in that it takes time from our families, time from our hobbies, time from the TV. Yet, as with all stewardship, the blessings far outnumber the hardships and God magnifies our efforts while He blesses us with grace. It takes all of us to make it happen.
REBUILDING & WINTERIZING FLOODED HOMES
Our parish connects weekly with Catholic Charities as part of the twelve Cedar Rapids Deanery Parishes. Together with St. Pius X Parish, we have focused on cleanup, gutting and rebuild efforts. Other parishes are focusing on case management. So where do you fit in?
OUR PLEA
Prayerfully consider your role in helping flood survivors return to their homes. Log on to complete a volunteer survey, "Flood Relief." Respond when you can, even if it is only one half day. Schedule yourself for this Sacrificial Stewardship. Know that you made a difference.
COMPLETE A VOLUNTEER SURVEY BY CLICKING here. Less than three minutes of information provides us with knowledge of who to contact for construction help.
A "LITTLE" NEED
All Cedar Rapids area parishes have combined to assist flood victims. 280 Catholic parishioner homes need to be rebuilt. Over 200 of you signed up to volunteer. Response to our requests has been dropping off, and it is now critical...we are unable to fill all help requests.
HOW REQUESTS WORK
We receive requests from home owners. A rep visually inspects the property and draws up an agreement with the family. We send messages once a week asking you to only respond if you can help (this keeps our in-basket manageable). We then contact those respondents with the specific job information. OR you may email Lorrie Erusha at lerusha@msn.com to volunteer.
WHAT YOU GET OUT OF THIS
A homeowner said this upon completion of a job, "It actually brought tears to my eyes when Mike left. He has been a TREMENDOUS help and is a very knowledgeable and fantastic person. We will never be able to thank him properly for all the work and many hours that he has put into restoring our home. We wouldn't be where we are without him, that's for sure. So, we thank you ALL for everything that you have done for our home and our familiy. We are deeply grateful."
"These guys work so hard I can hardly keep up with them. They're almost more gung-ho than I am!"
Volunteers said upon completion of a job,
"Thank you for all you are doing to get us out there working. It is more than I could have imagined."
"My family says I look and act much happier since I've been working on these homes!" "Thank you so much for letting me help this family. I got the drywall done in the three nights and am going back to help them with more because they are so appreciative and easy to work with. This whole experience has made me feel so good!"
"I'm so glad I have the change to help because I can't imagine what they've been trhough. It's mind-boggling."
FOOD TEAMS ARE NEEDED
Out-of-town groups from Catholic parishes are coming more frequently to help in the flood effort. These groups will be staying at some of our Catholic sites - St. Elizabeth's hosted a group from Clarke College recently. The goal is to have a Catholic community-wide effort to provide meals for our out-of-town workers. We need people to provide food and phone call leaders. Please contact Joni Porter at poshore@aol.com or 640-0085 to help in this area. Thank you for all you are doing to help int he flood relief effort!
