wfn.org | CWS Iowa homes rebuilt after floods; families moving in

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Iowa homes rebuilt after floods; families moving in

Two years after flood, families celebrate return to repaired home

Six weeks, 400 volunteers, 9,000 volunteer hours, 14 homes

Editors, Producers: Multiple opportunities for interviews and live
shots during event, throughout the day and early evening.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, Friday, May 14, 2010  -- After coping with flood
damage for more than two years, Don and Sandy McSpadden will return to a
fully repaired home following a ceremony in Cedar Rapids next Tuesday
(5/18). The ceremony, a celebration event, caps the work of nearly 400
volunteers from across the U.S. and Canada who worked to repair 14 homes
in and around Cedar Rapids over the past six weeks.

The McSpaddens are just one of many Cedar Rapids families still
recovering from the flood of 2008. Both are retirees whose northwest
side Cedar Rapids home became uninhabitable after it was inundated by
floodwater. They have been forced to live in a small apartment since the
fall of 2008 and are very anxious to return to their home and
neighborhood of more than 40 years.

Volunteers worked some 9,000 hours throughout the CWS Neighborhood:
Cedar Rapids project repairing flood damaged homes, restoring hope and
making it possible for the McSpaddens and other families like them to
return to safe, secure and sanitary homes.

â??The McSpaddens are exactly the kind of individuals we are supposed
to help,â?? says Bonnie Vollmering, Associate Director for Domestic
Emergency Response with humanitarian agency Church World Service. â??W e
are fortunate in this project to stand side by side with families who
needed a partner in recovery.â??

WHAT:

Neighborhood: Cedar Rapids Project Completion Ceremony
Featuring Mike Lasack and the Rhythmaires Polka Band

> WHERE:
> 1342 5th Street NW, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

WHEN:

Tuesday, May 18, 2010 10 a.m. Brief service and remarks in front of
McSpadden home

WHO:

Representatives from Church World Service and some of the 10
national-level partner organizations participating in the project will
join representatives from local long-term recovery partners Block By
Block and Linn Area Long-Term Recovery Coalition and homeowners assisted
by this program.

BACKGROUND:

CWS has provided support to the Cedar Rapids and eastern Iowa
communities since the flood of 2008, in the form of material resources,
grants, and training for long-term recovery needs. Based on more than 60
years of experience, Church World Service has a mandate to provide
long-term recovery assistance for the most vulnerable who are impacted
by disasters.

CWS Neighborhood: Cedar Rapids builds on the successful 2009 ecumenical
rebuilding effort, Neighborhood: New Orleans, which returned families
long displaced by Hurricane Katrina to repaired homes.

Church World Service partners and groups who participated in the Cedar
Rapids project include American Baptist Churches USA, the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Reformed World Relief Committee,
Church of the Brethren Disaster Ministries, Lutheran Disaster Response,
Lutheran Services in Iowa, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the Reformed Church in America Global
Mission, the United Church of Christ, and United Methodist Committee on
Relief.
Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, 212-870-2676, lcrosson@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526, jdragin@gis.ne