wfn.org | Protestant/Catholic volunteers restore hope for Midwest families

["Lesley Crosson" <lcrosson@churchworldservice.org>]

Media Contacts: Lesley Crosson, (781) 925-1526, lcrosson@churchworldservice.org 
Jan Dragin - 24/7 - phone: (781) 925-1526, jdragin@gis.net

>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Homes, hopes restored for more Cedar Rapids families

***DOWNLOADABLE HIGH RES PHOTOS AVAILABLE, SEE URL AND CAPTIONS AT
END***

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Tues. May 18, 2010 -- It¹s been two years since  a
flood forced Donald McSpadden and his wife to move away from their
damaged house, but today, surrounded by family and volunteers, the
McSpaddens saw the rebirth of their home.

The McSpaddens were joined by family, well-wishers and some 40
volunteers, as humanitarian agency Church World Service and its national
and local partners celebrated the end of the Neighborhood: Cedar Rapids
project-- a
six-week effort that brought together volunteers from across the U.S.
and Canada to help 14 families return home.

"He¹s been so excited he can¹t sleep at night," McSpadden� �s daughter
Sandy Dighton said. Using a wheelchair and coping with a disability,
McSpadden¹s eyes welled with tears as he saw newly finished floors,
fixtures and fresh paint on drywall. He thanked each volunteer he saw in
a strained voice.

Needs still abound in Cedar Rapids, despite the fact that the Cedar
River's devastating flood happened in 2008. In the McSpadden¹s
neighborhood of Time Check, nearby homes are being demolished as
government officials readjusted the floodplain based on the disaster two
years ago.

The couple's home sits just beyond the new floodplain line. Many of
their neighbors have already seen their homes bought out and demolished
in the floodplain readjustment.

"The people in the neighborhood, they were angry for a long time,"  said
Melzor Hill, rebuild project site coordinator on the McSpadden home.
"It¹s
still hard for them."

Even during the Neighborhood: Cedar Rapids ceremony, the sounds of
demolition elsewhere in the neighborhood could be heard over a polka
band playing for the event. Yet the focus of the volunteers, CWS's
recovery organization partners and the 14 families at this ceremony was
solely on the effort of returning as many families home as possible.

"We can¹t help where they say the line is drawn for the floodplain, "
says
Bonnie Vollmering, Church World Service Associate Director for Domestic
Emergency Response. "All we can do is help as many people as we can
return to the homes allowed to stand."

The spirit of helping people is what drew retired federal executive
Shirley Mehan, of Rock Spring United Church of Christ in Arlington, Va.,
to come to Cedar Rapids as a rebuild volunteer. "The spirit moves you to
make a contribution," Mehan said, taking a break to wipe sweat from her
brow as she
sanded drywall. "We¹re taking all the time, we should be doing some
giving."

Following disasters in the U.S., the work of long term recovery
organizations is just that: it's not about quick fixes and it's  targeted
to those who are uninsured, under-insured, are otherwise not
sufficiently assisted by the system to return to their homes -- or may
be left two years out, as with many in Cedar Rapids, either still
waiting and living
elsewhere, with key repairs still lacking, or seeing their home now
being leveled.

At Monday's rebuild ceremony, keynoter Rev. Kevin Massey, Director of
Lutheran Disaster Response in the U.S., said, "The long term recovery
team is the most challenging team to be a part of. It certainly takes
the longest of all the disaster responders to do its work."

The Neighborhood: Cedar Rapids project builds on the first Church World
Service ecumenical rebuilding project, Neighborhood: New Orleans.

That effort returned 12 Hurricane Katrina-displaced families to their
homes in just four weeks with more than 500 volunteers.

CWS faith-based partners brought more than 400 volunteers to Cedar
Rapids,some of whom worked on Bill Parrott¹s home. Also disabled,
Parrott has lived upstairs in his home while copin
g with flood damage
and repairs downstairs.

He spent most of the six-week project working side by side with
volunteers.

"I wouldn¹t feel right to just stand around and watch them,"  Parrott
said.

"I can say I¹ve met the good people of the world."

CWS partners in Iowa Block by Block and the Linn Area Long-Term
Recovery Coalition identified the homes to be repaired. CWS collaborated
with the
Presbytery of East Iowa and Lutheran Services in Iowa to coordinate the
project's volunteers.

National partners in the effort included American Baptist Churches,
U.S.A., Brethren Disaster Ministries, Catholic Charities, U.S.A.,
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, Disaster Response,
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, Reformed Church in America, United
Church of Christ, the United Methodist Committee on Relief and Week of
Compassion.

To find out more about the U.S. and international disaster recovery
work of Church World Service, visit: www.churchworldservice.org.

>###

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>PHOTO CAPTIONS:

5608 - Church World Service and 400 volunteers from across the U.S.
worked
to repair homes in and around Cedar Rapids' most damaged areas over the
last
six weeks. (Matt Hackworth/CWS Photo)

5620 - Sandy Dighton and her father Don McSpadden take a tour around
his
newly-repaired home. The McSpaddens hope to move in by the end of
June.
(Matt Hackworth/CWS Photo)

5621 - Neighborhood: Cedar Rapids rebuild project site supervisor
Melzor
Hill shows off his work to Don McSpadden, seated, and his daughter
Sandy
Dighton. (Matt Hackworth/CWS Photo)

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