Dordt College Alumni Help Clean Up after Flooding

With the flooding and rains behind them, several communities in northwest Iowa have begun the process of cleaning up. This includes the town of Rock Valley. People have begun helping their neighbors remove furniture and restore their homes. Help has come from within the community but also from neighboring communities.

Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, is one of those communities. On Friday, June 27, alumni, professors, parents, and current students came together to help Rock Valley rebuild.

Brandon Huisman, director of alumni and external relations for Dordt, said that there were just over 100 people working. The group worked on a variety of projects, including completely gutting trailers and loading pay loaders with items that need to be brought to the dump. They also did landscaping, pulled up floors, and sanitized basements. A lot of this work was done in trailer courts and on the north side of Rock Valley.

“It was incredible to see how eager the Dordt College community was to serve,” said Huisman. “We simply gave them an opportunity (publicized on Facebook and by emailing alumni within a 70-mile radius), and then we had the privilege of working side by side with citizens who invited us into their post-flood reality. It was a real honor to serve the people of Rock Valley.”

Huisman said the work day was part of being the body of Christ, being his hands and his feet in his world. “The 100-plus volunteers from Dordt represent just a portion of the volunteers who have stepped up to serve our neighbors and friends in Rock Valley. We were happy to be part of the ongoing efforts to help restore that community.”