“Driving around town you would never know there was a disaster or that people needed help with their homes,” said Chuck Ammermann, a World Renew Disaster Response Services (DRS) volunteer.

Since the massive June 2014 flooding, 85 World Renew DRS volunteers have helped in Rock Valley, Iowa, volunteering for one to 30 days at a time.

The June flood flowed through homes, filling basements and even some main floors and caused extensive damage. Basements used for living spaces, bedrooms, and storage, as well as some main floors needed to be completely gutted.

“I worked on one home for a week. The basement was flooded to within six inches of the floor joists. The homeowner lost just about everything in her basement including three bedrooms,” Ammermann said. “I plan to go back in March. I think that if we can do something to help others, we should. It’s what God calls us to do.”

Today’s efforts in Rock Valley focus on home reconstruction, but World Renew DRS has been in the area since shortly after the flood occurred and has provided many services. These include early assessments, cleanup, capacity building, construction estimating, and needs assessments. In all, DRS has donated about 4,000 volunteer hours to the flood response so far.

Muryl Korver, another World Renew DRS volunteer, lives 30 minutes from Rock Valley.

“I was able to help a couple who are in their 80s move back home just before Thanksgiving. They had been living in a temporary rental since the June because water filled their basement and came up 18 inches on their main floor. The entire first floor had to be redone: the flooring, sheet rock, doors, and so on,” Korver said. “I know there are more people that need help. I have been able to volunteer around the world, and when there is an opportunity to help my neighbors right here, how can I not lend a hand?”

When disasters happen, churches often take a vital role in sending volunteers, helping to identify those in need, and offering hospitality to those who come to help the community to help.

“Trinity Christian Reformed Church kindly offered their parsonage to house our out-of-town volunteers, and many other churches are providing delicious evening meals for our teams,” said Rob Schelling, a World Renew DRS volunteer from Sioux Center, Iowa, who is providing construction supervision. “Local businesses are also helping out as they are able. There’s a real sense of community here. Everyone is working together, hand in hand.”

After the early response and assessments, World Renew DRS is focusing on helping people who for various reasons cannot complete the repairs their homes need themselves: widows, single parent families, the elderly, and those with health issues.

“We are working on ten homes right now, and we have more houses on our list that we haven’t even started yet. We will be working on one home this spring that needs to be raised up off the ground so that additional footings can be added to get it out of the way of future floods,” Schelling said. “We welcome more volunteers.”

If you’d like to join the efforts in Rock Valley or elsewhere in North America, visit worldrenew.net/drs to get started, or contact us at [email protected] or 800-848-5818.