The toll free number for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Helpline is

 800-621-FEMA (3362) or TTY 800-462-7585. FEMA Helpline hours are 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day.

Disaster loan specialists from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) are available to answer questions and help people complete their disaster loan applications from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The number is 800-659-2955.

For information from the State of Iowa, click here: http://www.flood2008.iowa.gov/
You may give donations for flood relief to the Iowa Conference. Make the designation on your check, and we will disburse them.
Disaster ministry workshop September 18 in Newton

For photos of flooding in Louisa County, click here: http://www.kenpurdy.com/FloodWeb/Flood.html

Please promote our conference flood relief offering August 24 or Sept. 7. Bulletin insert here.

For a compilation of ecumenical responses to the floods:  http://www.iowawaters.blogspot.com/

Here is a really clever idea for your flood offering!
The Manson church put out a gallon jar full of water labeled "Get the Water Out" and as people put in their money, the water overflowed. (You like it already, don't you? The kids do.) When the water was almost entirely displaced by money, they dried out the money, which came to $239.90! They put it together with some other money and sent $500 in to the flood relief efforts. Bill and Barb Howie sent this picture:

Dear Friends in Christ -- Eden Update – July 8, 2008

Today we welcome approximately 14 Aegon employees to help with the demolition at Eden.  They, like so many before them, worked through the dust and odor for eight hours.  They removed the walls around the storage area in the large fellowship hall along with the ceiling and fixtures, they removed the rest of the ceiling in the boiler room and got the water heater outside, in removing the west wall in the women’s restroom they discovered a space quite large, half filled with dirt—why? We do not know. They tore the entire top wooden floor off the large room and a part of the underlayment.  In brief—Aegon was indeed a blessing to Eden today and we offer them our heartfelt thanks for all their efforts on our behalf.

We need also to thank Bob Ehlinger for arranging their work day and his son Kris Ehlinger who took the day off to help guide all the workers. In addition to Aegon employees our deepest thanks go to: Tom Rosenberger for his continued support of this project and Greg Pingel and Deb Wooldridge who worked tirelessly on the removal of some very stubborn tile. Stephanie and Allan Rosendale provided additional muscle power to Greg and Deb and the removal of tile.

Our hope is to have a few folks working tomorrow – but I need to know if there is anyone planning on working Thursday since Tom cannot be present and I’ll not be there in the morning. So if you would like to work Thursday let me know tomorrow. Tom is willing to come down and start the generator in the morning and then pick it up in the afternoon.

Saturday is our next big push—it will be messy work and challenging.  We’ll be removing the rest of the sub floor and then get down below to begin emptying out many boards and stuff left in that space as well as remove the all wood gym floor getting us to the bottom of the old swimming pool floor. This will require lifting and pulling apart of nailed pieces.  Please wear heavy shoes and if you have heavier gloves that would be recommended. This is an area where there is still a quarter to half inch or more of that nasty residue the flood left behind—so masks will be mandatory. I’m sure there will still be a few other projects not quite so demanding.

If you plan to attend please let me know at 319-431-3336 so we know how many will be coming and how many to prepare lunch for on Satruday. We’ll start between 8:30-9am and finish in the afternoon when the majority say ‘enough’!

Again, continue to keep us in your prayers and for those nearby who wish to join us for some exercise—give us a call.

Peace, Glenn

These photos of homes in Clarksville were sent in by the Rev. Charles Dorsey, pastor at St. John's UCC in Nashua, on Tuesday, July 1.

There were approximately 140 homes affected in Clarksville.

These photos were taken on Saturday, June 14 by Lee and Donna Borntrager of Eden UCC in Cedar Rapids.

Dear Friends of Eden

Just a brief update before I leave to help one of our folks pull a hot water heater out of their basement and then head for church.

There is still much to be torn out including the wood floor in the large downstairs hall--which has a second wood floor in the center section between the steel posts --which was the original gym floor and is five feet below the present floor--the second floor (the one five feet below)has to be removed because it is obviously a true story that I've been hearing all these years--that under that wooden floor is a swimming pool--the depth of which no one is quite sure--but of which most who remember are sure houses old pews etc.

After it is cleaned out we'll have the building department come by again to do a thorough look now that things can be seen. This Saturday we'll have a large crew of volunteers from several churches and hopefully will be able to accomplish a lot of demolition.

I thank all those who have remembered us with gifts and prayers and calls of concern. They are all appreciated.

Peace, Glenn

June 18

Dear Members and Friends of Eden

The floods devastated Cedar Rapids downtown area and it did a great deal of damage at Eden UCC as well. We were able to get into the church for the first time yesterday.  The entire basement was flooded beyond the ceiling and the water reached the floor level of the first four rows of pews. We had a small group of volunteers yesterday and hopefully today – we still do not have all the water pumped from the lower basement area or boiler room – and are still thinking over how were going to deal with water below the false floor in the lower basement.  Consequently we did not want a great deal of persons running around in dangerous situations—and we tried to make sure everyone had their tetanus shots, boots, gloves and masks. The stench was unbelievable but as we were able to open windows it helped a great deal.

Many people have offered to help—and we’ll be calling for sure—unfortunately we don’t want to jeopardize or compromise anyone’s health and so we are going to wait until we have all the water and junk out of area, have an electrician check out what needs to be done before restoring power (remember all the fluorescent lights and wiring were completely submerged in water), have a building inspector come through to check all the interior before inviting all those who have been so kind to offer help to join us in what will be a massive cleanup and renewal project.

We had to pull out two refrigerators, a freezer and pop machine—most of the ceiling tiles in the kitchen and quilting area came down by themselves because of the weight of the water and the remaining will have to be torn down—some of the lower wall paneling has fallen off and all the wood paneling will have to be torn out. The kitchen cabinets even those with glass jars were moved to different locations (I wish I had time to download some of the pictures) and the plywood soaked thru and thru so we are pulling all of those out and they’ll have to be replaced—still don’t know about the kitchen floor. We did have a generator for the last couple of hours last night and that helped and hopefully someone is bringing one this morning to help us out.  That’s just a brief synopsis of a total mess.

Unfortunately about 7 of our families have experienced flood damage from flooded basements to one of our members who is unsure if they’ll be able to return to their home because they believe the water went in to the second floor—it was in the Czech village area.  We’re not sure what our weekly offering will be because of all the variables. We will be meeting at Cedar Memorial’s Westside Chapel on Sunday mornings at 9:15am until further notice.

I cannot thank those who have contacted me enough who said they would continue to keep the people of Eden in their prayers. It is both a source of comfort and strength to know we have support which is far reaching.  Bless you all.

If you have any questions about the cleanup process or progress, don’t hesitate to call (it gives me a break from cleaning) and I’d be happy to share whatever information you’d like to know.

Again thank you for your prayers and support,

Peace, Glenn