Sandbagging near Oquawka, Illinois. Photo by PDA NRT member Rick Turner After weeks of steady rain in Illinois and up-river, the Mississippi River crested over flood stage and threatens several small rural towns and villages in Central Western Illinois.
Two members of the PDA National Response Team (NRT), Rick Turner and Doug Macdonald, were deployed and arrived late on the evening of June 17, 2008, at Great Rivers Presbytery in Peoria, Illinois.
Each community in the area has taken on the responsibility for securing and sand bagging the levee in their community. Local Presbyterian churches have joined with other churches in the community in organizing and providing food and hydration to the volunteers bagging sand.
Central Western Illinois is extremely rural, and counties and villages have very limited resources. The expense of sand bagging has been a great strain on the local budgets.
Many people, including pastors, have been working almost around the clock at the levee sites. In addition to physical assistance for the community, debriefing and spiritual and emotional care were identified as a need in the communities. Resources to help meet this need are being sent to the presbytery, and One Great Hour of Sharing and designated funds are immediately available. |
