Sports Viking gridders pitch in for storm clean-up

VINTON ¢â‚¬â€� They ¢â‚¬â„¢re already working hard every morning at practice, but members of the Vinton-Shellsburg football team have been pulling double-duty as many Viking players and coaches have been out in the area helping residents clean-up after Monday ¢â‚¬â„¢s derecho storm.

¢â‚¬Å“We have a lot of kids who have been busting their tails after practice helping our community, ¢â‚¬ � said V-S head coach Jim Womochil. 

This afternoon, we caught up with a crew of Viking grinders, along with assistant coach Dave Berends, were at Dave and Carmi Behrens ¢â‚¬â„¢ place on 59th Street, cleaning up a batch of trees that fell in the storm.

¢â‚¬Å“We lost (over 100) trees in 2011, and it cost us $21,000 to get it all cleaned up, ¢â‚¬ � Carmi said. ¢â‚¬Å“Having this kind of help this time has been great. ¢â‚¬ �

¢â‚¬Å“There ¢â‚¬â„¢s been a lot of teams that have not been able to practice this week, and they ¢â‚¬â„¢ve been out there helping people ¢â‚¬ � said Viking senior Elijah Kalous. ¢â‚¬Å“We ¢â‚¬â„¢ve been practicing, but we ¢â‚¬â„¢re still out here too; people need help. ¢â‚¬ �

See pictures here