BankerGirl

Posted by Heidi on June 13th, 2008 in Volunteer

In September 2006, my father was involved in a near-fatal farm accident.  He was hospitalized for weeks afterwards - during the fall harvest.  While he was recovering, neighboring farmers gathered with combines, tractors, and wagons and brought in his entire crop, all in one day. 

It was very humbling for my father to accept the help, but without it, it would have been a very rough year.  My family is fortunate to live in a community that takes care of its own in such a way. 

My parents live in a town with a population of 800 (yes, I know that this is likely smaller than your graduating class).  Nearly 3 million people live in the state that I call home, and this week I discovered that the people here - from those dwelling in the “cities” to those living in the tiniest towns, all have the same spirit of community. 

More than 80% of this state is underwater and has been declared a disaster area by the govenor.  Over the past several days, people have come out in force to sandbag in an attempt to keep flood waters at bay.  Efforts have been underway all week long, and yet people return day after day to do the messy, back-breaking work that must be done - many of them using their vacation time to help out. 

Today I worked a rather cushy of job at the United Way Volunteer Reception Center.  I got to help coordinate volunteers and debrief them before sending them out to sandbaging locations.  As a result, I got to see nearly every one of the hundreds of individuals who answered the call for help.  People of all ages and sizes showed up (I was especially surprised by the 72 year-old woman who, when asked if she would rather sandbag or make sandwiches for volunteers, shouted “I came to sandbag!”). 

Just when you think the world has gone mad (see this story about a man being hit by cars as onlookers just gawk), people prove that they are inherently good.    

Photo credit: Lisa Franandez/The Register

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