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AmeriCorps helping in storm recovery |
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Thursday, 15 May 2008 |
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Helping their fellow Americans is what a group of young disaster relief volunteers is all about.  Members of Americorps help clean up Hurricane Lake Mobile Home Park off Arkansas 5 in Benton, the site of much destruction after a tornado roared through the area on April 3. Shown are Audrey McPherson and Matt Borgman of the South Alabama AmeriCorps group. (Courier photos by Jillian Duke)
“We love helping America,” Matt Borgman said with a smile. Borgman is part of an AmeriCorps group from Alabama.
Two AmeriCorps groups have been at Hurricane Lake Mobile Home Park off Arkansas 5 in Benton to help clean up after the April 3 tornadoes that wreaked havoc in the area.
 Two AmeriCorps groups take a break from cleaning up debris earlier this week. From left are Alyssa Hathaway, Misty Black Cloud and project manager Viola Long, all with the Hoopa Tribal Civilian Community Corps; and team leader Audrey McPherson, Matt Borgman and Chris Heath, all with the South Alabama AmeriCorps group.
In all, the AmeriCorps team for Arkansas comprises 20 individuals: 10 each from two distinctively diverse cultures, separated by a distance of 2,666 miles and hundreds of years in history, according to a news release of the state Department of Human Services.
Ten members come from the Hupa Indian Tribe from California’s Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation in northwestern Calif-ornia, and 10 come from Mobile, Ala.
Leading the Hoopa group on Monday at the mobile home park was Viola Long.
One highlight in their relief efforts in Saline County is that they helped a family reunite with their pets. In the midst of sifting through debris, two kittens were found.
“We took them to the shelter and have (since) learned that the family has been reunited,” she said.
According to DHS, AmeriCorps members are in Arkansas at the request of the state and Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster, which is a consortium of volunteer organizations including many faith-based volunteer organizations.
Because the AmeriCorps teams also assess the needs of people in the area, they can match volunteers with those whose needs are beyond the capacity of self-help.
“We’re trying to put together a resource guide listing people and organizations who can help; people who excel with food, shelter and cleanup efforts,” he said.
Neither team is a stranger to helping others. The year-old Alabama group is part of the Mobile Emergency Response Team is helping Arkansas after lending a hand to those in need in Tennessee. Those from California were initiated in disaster work helping Floridians recover from the hurricanes in 2004.
To be incorporated in the resource guide, individuals or groups may call Long at 707-407-8538. |
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