Et cetera : NCCC’s Cedar 3 is Assisting Lutheran Disaster Response in Minot, ND

By: Dave Condlin

Cedar Three has been working with Lutheran Disaster Response in dismantling interiors of homes affected by the 2011 Souris River Flood in Minot, North Dakota since July 20, 2011 and is returning to Vinton this weekend.

During their six week stay in Minot, Cedar Three has been going into the homes of those affected by the flood and removing debris and household items. The items are taken outside and are lined up next to the street to be picked up by a dump truck. Any salvageable items are kept in a separate pile and returned to the home owners. The work includes gutting houses; such as tearing out drywall, floors, ceilings, or removing furniture from the home. Other work includes mucking the inside of homes, which is removing particles that are still wet from the flood into buckets that are brought outside.

This is the second disaster relief project for Cedar Three; they recently helped clean up debris for tornado victims in Mississippi this past May.

According to team leader Drew Simmons, the work is much needed in an area that doesn’t have many volunteers, “There is a huge need for us to be here and to be doing this work. It’s great to get a team of young and able bodied individuals to be up here doing all they can for people who desperately need help.”

Simmons adds that the team struggled with the project originally but has improved a significant amount, “It’s hard work and no one on the team has done this type of work before, but we’re quick learners and every house we go into we know what needs to get done and we do the job right. We just needed time to adjust to this type of work.”

So far, Cedar Three has cleaned out 20 homes in Minot and the surrounding area. A majority of the clients are the elderly or physically disabled individuals who need all the help they can get. Some projects vary from detailing houses that have been previously worked on by other volunteers, or starting from the beginning and cleaning out houses that had barely been entered since the flood.

In total, four AmeriCorps NCCC teams have volunteered with disaster relief in Minot and the surrounding area this year. A fifth team is scheduled to arrive on in September 9 to continue the work of previous NCCC teams.