“Tractor” Dave Wolfsen’s travels around America this summer took an ironic turn when he had to make a detour around a natural disaster. Since June 1, Wolfsen has been driving his restored 1937 Co-Op farm tractor through the eastern and midwest U.S. to raise funds and awareness for the disaster response programs of the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) and the Foods Resource Bank.

But, in mid-July Wolfsen’s encounter with the flooded Missouri River caused him to re-route from his northwestern track into Nebraska to a more direct, easterly route to South Dakota and Minnesota.

“As we were driving north on I-29 up into Craig, Missouri, some of the roads were already closed and you could see fields, grain bins, and elevators under water four or five foot deep,” Dave says. “For some folks, it was the second time in ten years they were flooded out and you know, their positive attitudes were something to see. When I asked how they were going to make it next year, they weren’t sure about the particulars, but they were real sure that ‘the Lord provides.’”

The flooding resulted from just one weather event in a severe storm and tornado season that buffeted the central U.S. on an almost weekly basis this spring. Since mid-April, CRWRC’s Disaster Response Services (DRS) has been responding to an ongoing variety floods, tornadoes, and wind and rain storms that have left people stunned, grieving, homeless, or without resources. The agency, through a cadre of experienced volunteers called “the green shirts,” is providing assistance in Alabama, North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. Meanwhile, longer-term reconstruction efforts are also being planned with local organizations in the most affected areas. CRWRC-DRS’s mission is to help people who are indigent, disabled, elderly, without insurance, or otherwise in need of assistance, recover from disasters.

“I’m finding that there are a lot of just plain good folks out here,” Tractor Dave says. “All I do is tell them the bottom line: the money you give to CRWRC helps people get over being through a disaster.

“I met two guys sitting at a picnic table one day—never saw them before in my life. One guy says to the other guy, ‘I got $100 if you do.’ The two of them donated $200 to CRWRC on the spot. So I asked them why. They said, ‘Because we’re not rich, but we have enough to help people, and you told us exactly what this money will do.’” Dave says, “That’s what people are like.”

Tractor Dave is finishing up his summer-long drive on August 15, when he and his old tractor will take a lake ferry, the S.S. Badger, from Wisconsin to the dock in Ludington, Michigan, arriving at 7 pm for the last day’s ride home to Fremont, Michigan. Would Dave make a detour to greet fans and supporters on the way home? “You betcha,” he says.

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