Courier Correspondent

WAVERLY - Friends call Gene Borochoff "Dirty Gene."

"I never grew out of getting dirty," he admits.

He is up to his boot tops in mud, helping Waverly residents clean up after the record-breaking flood of 2008.

Borochoff returned to his hometown this week with a 20-foot, fully equipped Nechama Jewish Response to Disaster trailer and a cleanup crew.

"We carry everything, including high-volume water pumps, generators, chain saws, power washers, wet vacs, portable lighting, ventilation vans, muck buckets and shovels," Borochoff said.

The Waverly native is a board member of Nechama, a nonprofit Jewish Response to Disaster organization, based in St. Louis Park, Minn.

"Nechama" is the Hebrew word for comfort. For people his crew is helping in Waverly, it might just as well mean "Godsend."

Although Nechama is a Jewish-based volunteer organization, it offers help to all people regardless of religious affiliation or class.

When the Cedar River reached an unexpected crest level and flooded most of downtown Waverly and other neighborhoods, Nechama crews were deployed to respond.

When streets turned into lakes, Patricia Schedtler, 79, was stranded in her home at 419 5th St NW.

"They came to get me in a boat," she said.

She took shelter at the relief center at Wartburg College.

"It was an unbelievable experience. I had been through the flood of 1999, but this was worse," she said. "I felt lost. I didn't know how long I would be there."

While having coffee with other flood victims, she met Dorothy Roiseland, whom she calls her guardian angel.

"She invited me to come and live with her. I stayed for nine days," Schedtler said. "She treated me like a queen."

The day after the flood, her son, Richard, arrived from San Diego. With the help of Allen and Penny Hoeper and their sons, Roger and Michael, they pumped out her flooded basement.

"It was a huge task. We couldn't do it all," Schedtler said.

"It was a finished basement with a full kitchen," she said. "We have a big family and always had our holiday dinners down there."

Those days remain a memory. Flood and sewer water nearly reached the ceiling.

Schedtler signed up for flood disaster relief. Most of the water was sucked out of the basement before the Nechama crew arrived to finish the dirty work - pulling out the ceiling, paneling, cabinets and floor tile.

The last to go was a cabinet with dishes covered in mud. Dan Hoeft, Nechama operations coordinator, approached Borochoff and asked, "Do we have time to wash her dishes?" Without hesitation, the answer was "absolutely."

Volunteer Christa Hanson, 13, sat on an overturned orange bucket, hand-washing each dish, carefully sponging away packed mud. The teenager and her dad, Mark, came from Kanawha to join the Nechama disaster relief effort.

Her dad said, "Christa has a strong work ethic. When I told her about the floods in Waverly, she said let's go."

Nechama is concentrating on Waverly homes, and Borochoff knows the neighborhoods.

"My family moved to Waverly when I was 13," he said. "My dad had Lou's Auto Recycling and Junk Yard. I rode my bide around the neighborhoods we are cleaning up."

The Waverly native had a prestigious career as director of research and development for General Mills International. Before retiring, he used vacation time to work on major flood and hurricane disasters throughout the U.S.

"Nechama has given me a second career," Borochoff said. "It is the most rewarding work I have ever done."

In 2003, he was given the Volunteer of the Year award by the Minnesota Emergency Management Organization.

Nechama Jewish Response to Disaster organization was founded in 1996.

"We have been on the frontline following hurricanes, tornadoes and floods throughout the U.S.," Borochoff said. "We have the tools and expertise and depend on hundreds of volunteers."

While working in Waverly, the Nechama crew is staying at the University of Northern Iowa Lutheran Student Center.

"We are always looking for more volunteers," Borochoff said. "We train everyone who works with us for both light- and heavy-duty work."

On Sunday, Nechama will bring in more equipment to speed up the recovery effort in Waverly.

"A lot of organizations do cleanup work but never have enough tools, equipment or supplies," Borochoff said. "Our job is to do the dirty work after nature makes a mess."

Contact Gloria Aleff at

newsroom@wcfcourier.com.