NEW HARTFORD - A church group from Delaware arrived on her doorstep shortly before Val DeGroote left for work.

The volunteers, most dressed in white protective suits, went to work ripping apart stained plaster, wood paneling and soggy lath. Tuesday marked the crew's second day of demolition.

"It's wonderful," DeGroote said. "It's absolutely wonderful."

Working days leaves DeGroote little time to tackle the daunting task of cleanup in a timely manner, despite help from family and friends. So she gratefully turned the work over to a group of visiting good Samaritans.

The home on Water Street in New Hartford took in about 2 feet of water on the first level.

"We've had a couple rough weeks, so when someone comes in and helps it really lifts the spirits," DeGroote said.

Volunteer Michael Wingate, 13, a member of the Seaford Wesleyan Church youth group in Delaware, doesn't see his trek or free labor as any great sacrifice.

"Well, it was a good cause and it doesn't really even take that much time anyway," Wingate said.

Near and far

Many Northeast Iowa church members are sympathetic to the plight of Northeast Iowa flood and tornado victims and have stepped up to help. Some created partnerships with faith-based agencies experienced in disaster recovery.

Most volunteers at DeGroote's residence represented World Hope International. The decade-old organization set up temporary headquarters at Cedar Valley Community Church in Waterloo for recovery efforts that target the city and New Hartford. The organization also has its eye on Cedar Rapids.

Local church leaders are glad for the direction and extra resources.

"They know what to do," said Ben Wedeking, a pastor at Cedar Valley.

Agency volunteers clear, clean, gut and disinfect homes. As of Wednesday, they had finished about 35 houses with another 30 to go, said James Bond, disaster response manager.

Samaritan's Purse, a nondenominational evangelical organization headed by Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, sent help after the May 25 tornado. The 40-year-old organization returned June 19 to assist flood victims, program manager Todd Taylor said.

A response unit dispatched by the organization is operating out of Prairie Lakes Church in Cedar Falls, targeting residents in North Cedar. Another went to Cedar Rapids, Taylor added.

Homeowners juggle cleanup with filing insurance claims, filling out applications for assistance, going to work and completing other daily responsibilities. Eager, able-bodied volunteers can relieve overwhelmed individuals and hasten the time-sensitive task, Taylor said.

"We are able to go in and focus strictly on the house," he said.

Local ministry leaders and relief workers note natural disasters, in addition to displacing people, create a host of other problems that also demand attention.

"Not only physical needs, but there are also emotional and spiritual needs that follow disasters of this size," said Connie Erpelding, director of care at Prairie Lakes.

"It is a huge responsibility," she added.

Chaplains with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team accompany volunteers with Samaritan's Purse to listen, talk and pray with homeowners who are willing, Taylor said. Residents also may receive a Bible signed by volunteers.

"We are here to come alongside of homeowners to encourage them, to help them through," Taylor said.

Prayer is common on a World Hope International work site.

"Not pushy," said Leon Nelson of Cedar Valley Community Church. "Just an offer of support."

On Tuesday Nelson worked alongside the team from Delaware. Kneeling to pry a wooden baseboard off a wall, Nelson said he much preferred gutting a home to more unpleasant tasks he witnessed at other residences after the flooding.

"Carrying out slimy, wet smelly stuff," he said, like a water-logged dresser full of soggy clothes or an overturned freezer full of meat that had "marinated in river water for two weeks.

"Nice," he said.

Not that Nelson, 72, is complaining. He helps willingly.

"I have a lot of things I could be doing recreationally," the Cedar Falls resident said. "But I can't enjoy doing them when there are people hurting like this."

Motivated

As of Wednesday, Samaritan's Purse had emptied and gutted about 25 homes. Another 125 residences remained on the organization's to-do list. Even with more than 130 volunteers logging hours, fresh help is always essential, said Connie Hall, a veteran volunteer with Samaritan's Purse.

With mountains of sandbags disappearing and floodwaters long since gone, relief workers and volunteers agree it's easy for those not affected by the storm or high water to forget many homes must still be repaired or are uninhabitable.

"Unless you are involved, you think it's all taken care of," Hall said.

Some hard-working homeowners made significant headway but are burned out, Bond said, and relief workers are still hearing about flood-damaged homes virtually untouched by cleanup efforts.

Norman Wagoner and other volunteers with Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief hope to lend a hand with those cases. Wagoner said Southern Baptists are focusing on several communities, including Evansdale and La Porte City.

"The longer you sit with that stuff in your house and no one helping, the more depressing it becomes," he said.

Faith-based groups working in the Cedar Valley welcome local volunteers but rely on out-of-state churches and faith groups to send fresh bodies. Some find relief work contagious.

Samaritan's Purse volunteer Bob Dickinson and others from Grace Bible Church in Elmhurst, Ill., traveled to Biloxi, Miss., three times. Wednesday, they tackled a muddy residence in North Cedar.

"It's the thing to do," Dickson said. "It doesn't require wwtraining. Anyone can do it."

In addition to providing free labor, relief workers believe they offer something even greater. All of the washing and cleaning is a way to express the unconditional love of Christ, Bond said.

"The goal is to provide help, to provide hope."

And the latter, he added, may be what matters most.

Contact Karen Heinselman

at (319) 291-1581 or

karen.heinselman@wcfcourier.com.