August 23, 2020
by Kalie Saunders, IRR program director
Belle Plaine, It’s been an honor. We set out to your town a week ago expecting to work hard. What we didn’t expect was to fall in love with each and every one of you. As a community, you opened your homes and your hearts to us. We came to give of ourselves, but you gave us a place to stay, food to eat, water to drink, tools and equipment to use, kindness, appreciation, friendship, and love. We intended to take care of you, but you took care of us. Each one of us has left a piece of our heart in Belle Plaine and we will never be quite the same again. It’s been an honor to serve alongside you. #iowastrong
August 22, 2020
by Kalie Saunders, IRR program director
KLKN-TV, Lincoln’s ABC affiliate aired a story about the Union College IRR disaster relief efforts on their Friday evening newscast.
August 21, 2020
by Kalie Saunders, IRR program director
It’s day 5 and the work hasn’t let up one bit! Still so much work to do. Great job everyone for working hard and staying in good spirits even though everyone is tired.
After working this area for almost a week, it is hard understand why Benton County (where Belle Plaine is) has applied for federal disaster aid three times and been denied each time! The damage here is devastating and Iowa deserves attention.
August 20, 2020
by Kalie Saunders, IRR program director
Within the first 15 minutes of beginning the workday this morning, our crane crew blew a tire! The crane truck is a highly unique and specialized piece of equipment and the tires required are not easy to get
When we got the news that the crane was out of commission our hearts dropped. God had just provided the truck. How could He let it blow a tire, especially now when we need it most?
Justin, the driver, called Mike to let him know what happened. Apparently, when he was on his way to remove a tree from a tricky spot involving downed power lines, they brushed up against a small piece of protruding rebar that instantly shredded the sidewall. The truck wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Mike knew it was unlikely that he would have a new tire before the end of the week. Even in the best of situations, it can take three days to get one, but in the middle of a disaster zone, it was bound to be even more difficult.
Trusting God, he set to work anyway, calling all the surrounding towns and cities to see if anybody had this special tire in stock. We all started praying. Half the town of Belle Plaine was praying with us.
Eventually, Mike found one in stock in Ceder Rapids, only 70 miles away! What great news and a direct answer to our prayers! He called Justin back to let him know God had provided a tire for us, but when Justin answered he said, “Mike, I’ve been trying to call you, we have a tire and it’s being put on RIGHT NOW!”
In fact, in the town of Belle Plaine, there are six of these rare tires! Only 30 minutes after the incident we were back on track for the day! Satan is clever, but God is in control! Thank you all for your prayers for our team and this response. We are exactly where we are meant to be.
Check out more stories and photos on the Facebook group dedicated to the IRR relief efforts.
August 19, 2020
by Kalie Saunders, IRR program director
Today we teamed up with Mike and Justin and their crane truck. These guys are the answer to the prayer we didn’t know we needed to pray. Mike brings his truck to disaster zones in response to insurance and FEMA claims. Yesterday the Gideon team was working to help a man remove the branch that punctured his roof and ceiling. We don’t have the equipment to remove the tree, but they told him we would remove the branch and do our best to patch his roof since he was unable to do it himself.
Mr. Miller, the homeowner and handyman, had gone out after the storm and started removing the tree himself. Somewhere along the way, he fell 15 feet head first and broke his back in several places. He was taken to the emergency room and was hospitalized.
All the while the tree remained on top of his home. He told us he had felt discouraged after he returned home. After everything he endured during the storm, now he was unable to physically remove the tree himself.
When we met him, we knew we were going to do everything we could to help him. But that meant getting rid of the branch piercing his roof, but having to leave the tree.
While the Gideon/IRR team was working in Mr. Miller’s front yard, Mike walked up. He had been contracted to come and remove a tree from a house down the street and he came to see what we were working on. We told Mike who we were, what we were doing in Iowa, and about Mr. Miller and his unfortunate turn of events. Mike immediately wanted to help! He offered to come remove the tree after he finished on his contract at the other house.
Mike made good on his promise, but better than that, he offered to stay and volunteer with us for the rest of the week! We didn’t think to pray for a crane, but God sent one anyway. God had already provided us with the opportunity to do big things for Him, but they just got even bigger! Thank you to all of you who financially and prayerfully support our team. You help make these blessings possible!
I spent some time talking to the Belle Plaine city administrator while at one of our work sites. He explained to me how difficult this storm has been on the community. In addition to homes and property being destroyed, the state of Iowa has lost 10 – 15 million acres of corn. Thats 1/3 of the state’s corn production and thousands of farmers’ livelihoods.
We’re honored to be here in Iowa to lend our support to these incredible farmers and community members. Please pray for us and our ongoing response efforts, pray for the people here who have been affected and if you’re able, please consider donating at this link: http://ucollege.edu/irr-belle-plaine#give, to support our Iowa disaster response efforts. Thank you!
August 18, 2020
by Kalie Saunders, IRR program director
Its been a very long couple of days and the team is tired, but we are so proud of them! Its only day 2 and the teams have helped removed literal tons of debris!! Great work everyone!
The team helped clean up eight different sites in Belle Plaine, Chelsea and Luzerne, Iowa.
August 17, 2020
by Kalie Saunders, IRR program director
After setting up base at a local church in Belle Plaine, our whole group set to work helping a local farmer.
Mr. Charles, a farmer in his 80s, lost four of his five outbuildings due to the derecho that took place last week. Upon our arrival, Mr. Charles was unsure of our motives, and as we worked he kept asking us how much we were going to charge him. Price gouging is a common occurrence after disasters and some residents of Belle Plaine told us they were quoted upwards of $20,000 to have their trees removed, so we understand why Mr. Charles was skeptical.
However, after lots of reassurance, hard work, swapping stories, and sharing our work snacks with him, he understood we just wanted to help. We could tell he was re-energized by our fast and hard-working group of responders and soon he was out working alongside us and we were clearing debris together.
Our Operations Section Chief, Ryan Haakenson, IRR senior and fellow Iowan, asked Mr. Charles how he was feeling at the end of our workday. Mr. Charles replied by expressing his relief and saying, “I’ve lived here my whole life and it’s finally starting to feel like home again.”
It’s an honor to get to work with people like Mr. Charles and to support this incredible and resilient community of Belle Plaine, Iowa.
August 17, 2020
A team of Union College international rescue and relief students and faculty left early this morning to spend a week helping the residents of Belle Plaine after an unusual windstorm caused extensive damage in the small eastern Iowa town.
The derecho started in Nebraska and packed 100 mph winds as it swept across Iowa, and impacted several other states last Monday, August 10.
The wind left the little town of Belle Plaine, located roughly halfway between Marshalltown and Cedar Rapids, with extensive damage and no power. The mayor declared a state of emergency and over the weekend asked Union’s IRR program to come help with the cleanup through a connection with Gideon Rescue, a relief organization started by Union IRR graduate Brock Mayer.
“What we have been told so far is that we will be doing a lot of tree removal,” said Andrew Saunders, the IRR faculty who leads the team along with his wife, IRR Program Director Kalie Saunders. “Most of the streets are clear, but the parks and private property are still covered with debris.”
The 23 students, two faculty and one graduate will work until next Sunday helping residents reclaim their devastated town—part of a much larger cleanup effort across Eastern Iowa from a storm that state and local officials say is the worst in the area’s history.
“This is a disaster that we have never seen before. It is something that was essentially like a hurricane coming through the Midwest without advance notice,” said U.S. Rep. Abby Finkenauer, a Democrat who represents Cedar Rapids in Congress as reported by USA Today.
The team will take extra precautions to protect against COVID-19 transmission including wearing masks in vehicles, in buildings and any time they can’t physically distance from others. According to Saunders, IRR students already undergo extensive safety training for working in emergency situations and will use the appropriate protective equipment and practices to protect themselves throughout the trip. Additionally, each student will receive a COVID-19 test upon returning to campus to ensure they did not contract the virus on their trip.
Union’s international rescue and relief program is a unique bachelor’s degree designed to prepare students for careers in public safety, emergency management, and community development. In addition to earning an emergency medical technician and several FEMA certifications, students spend five weeks in Colorado training in wilderness survival and rescue, and a whole semester in a developing nation studying global medicine and running health clinics in underserved areas.
The program regularly responds to disaster in the United States and around the world—including the 2019 Nebraska flooding, Hurricane Harvey in Texas, Typhoon Adai in Malawi, and many more. If you’d like to support their disaster relief efforts, please use the giving form below.
