Storm Sandy

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Roundup Flood Relief

Today (Saturday, June 4) members of our stake went to Roundup to help with the flood clean-up effort.  They met at the church at 6 am.

Here are members, wearing the church's "Helping Hands" vests, in front of the Roundup Branch building.

This shows the main room inside our church, full of donated items. There were somewhere around 75 members of our stake working in Roundup, and another 25 people or so from other churches and the community at large.

The local hospital was giving free tetanus shots to anyone who needed them.  Unfortunately, there were a lot of exposed nails to poke yourself on.

Salt Lake sent up these white cleaning buckets--they think of everything! Inside these buckets are gloves, bleach, all-purpose cleaner, rags, and cleaning sponges.

As you can see, this is quite a messy job. Basements in Roundup were full to the ceiling with flood water, and main floors had another 3-4 feet of water in many areas.

Here is a typical house, being cleaned by workers. Workers cleaned out houses for anyone who needed help.

Everything has to be brought outside to be cleaned up and dried. 

Sheetrock was  pulled down to get rid of water-logged walls.

This is a sinkhole in someone's  yard.  Workers poured around 50 bags of sand into this hole and didn't even begin to fill it in.

This large semi is full of free drinking water for the people of Roundup.

The Catholic church in town set up this washing station with warm water so workers could clean up before eating lunch.

Meals are being cooked in the Catholic church for workers and members of Roundup community in need of food.

This is the Catholic church of Roundup.  They have invited members of the Roundup branch to come eat lunch with them tomorrow after church.

This is what Roundup looks like a week or so after the last rain. Billings got around 9+ inches over the month of May.  Roundup got 9 inches on ONE day, and 4 inches a few days later.

An apartment building ruined by the floods.

This is the inside of someone's house.  You can see how high the flood water was--all of the sheetrock had to be pulled off as high as the flood water hit.

This picture was taking near the river.  The river has been more or less dry for the last eight years.

You can see in this picture how a picnic table and other objects were pushed against a fence by flood water.

Notice how this street sign has grass and mud on the top were flood water reached.

These are the sister missionaries.  They and a group of workers found an elderly woman who had purchased this home two weeks before the flood. 

Her basement was filled, and her main floor was left with several inches of mud and silt.

Her home is a good example of the mess left by the flood.

President Checketts, President of the Roundup branch is second from the left.

Thank you to all who helped today, as well as all who offered to help.  We will continue to update you with opportunities for serving as they come up.

Flood Relief Update

Today members of both stakes met at 5 am to prepare breakfast and lunch for people in Crow Agency and Lodge Grass. We made 300+ sandwiches, using peanut butter and jam from the truck of supplies sent by Salt Lake, and also purchased supplies locally to make meat sandwiches, and provide milk, fresh fruit, chips, cookies, and rolls for dinner.  At 4:30 pm another group met to get stew ready to send.  After the food is prepared President Griffin and counterparts from the other stake deliver it. We are so thankful to those who came and helped.  Many others volunteered, but were not needed this time. This food is being used to feed anyone in those communities in need of a meal, not just members.  Many of you have asked where members from Lodge Grass and Crow Agency attended church---they are part of the Hardin Branch. 
At this time, it is possible we will be preparing meals for the next several Mondays.  We are only providing Monday's meals--other days are covered by other groups.  If you can help prepare food at the Auto Auction, either around 5-6 am or 4-5 pm on Mondays, please contact me, either through email ( skjones8@juno.com ) or by phone (I am in Hilltop Ward), and I will add you to our list of future volunteers.

You have likely seen on the news how serious the flooding has been in Roundup.  Tomorrow supplies will be taken into Roundup area by some of our stake brethren. 

We encourage you to find ways to serve those who have been affected by the floods in your own ward, in our stake, and in our state.  We appreciate all of the donated time and bedding we have received. Please, pray for those who have been affected by flooding. We will likely feel the effects of all this rain for some time.

Relief Efforts

Recently our area received supplies from Salt Lake for flood relief.  These items, along with some of the bedding collected by the stake, have been taken to Crow Agency.  They also received cleaning supplies from Salt Lake. The people of Crow Agency are so grateful for the contributions.  Eight tons of food was delivered on Friday, and more will be distributed in the coming weeks, as needed.  Some of the hygiene kits and bedding we collected were also given to those affected locally by flooding who are now staying at the Red Cross facility on MSU B campus. On Monday, members from both stakes will be going to Lodge Grass to feed breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you have the time and ability to participate in these service opportunities, please contact me at skjones8@juno.com. You will need to be available for either a morning shift from 5 am to noon or 1, and an afternoon shift from 11 am to 6 or 7 pm.  Leave you name and phone number and shift time available and I will add you to our list.  We will likely be doing various service project related to the flooding issues for several weeks.

Help for Hardin

We put together a very quick service project today for the Hardin area.  As  you know, there have had very serious issues with flooding around the state, and the Hardin area has been particularly hard hit.  President Griffin asked us put together at least 500 hygiene kits. We put the word out about noon today that we needed helping hands to assemble kits.  We when gathered at 7, more that 100 members showed up.  A big thank you to all who were able to come tonight and help out!  We completed nearly 600 hygiene kits.

There will no doubt be more opportunities to serve in the coming weeks. Tonight we are asking members of the stake to donate clean, gently used TWIN sheets--both fitted and flat.  We also need blankets of all sizes, particularly twin. We will be collecting them tomorrow evening at 7 in the stake Relief Society room.  If you have sheets and blankets you can donate, but can't make it to the church tomorrow evening, please contact me (Chris Jones) directly. We will be collecting sheets and blankets now through Friday.

Please remember the members of our stake in your prayers. Sisters, please check on the sisters you visit teach-make sure they are doing alright. We have members all over the stake who are dealing with weather-related issues.

Hearts and Hands 2011

Saturday was our 11th and final Hearts and Hands service project.

We spent the day pinning,

tacking,

sorting,

packaging,

tying,

cutting,

finishing,

 and organizing.

As always, we are amazed and touched by the amount of donations that poured in.

We are grateful for every donated pencil, diaper, backpack, can of food, and clothing item given.

Those who receive these goods are so thankful.

We know many incredible women who spent this past year piecing and finishing quilts, putting together clothing protectors, and collecting needed goods.

Thank you to the sisters who brought the delicious soups for our luncheon.

 I sampled several of the soups, but couldn't quite decide which was yummiest.

Hearts and Hands has always been a great place to see old friends,  

catch up on each other's lives

and enjoy the company of our sisters.

Naturally, this year was no exception!

 Thank you to each sister who came and spent an hour or the day working.

We know you are busy in your own lives.

Last year when we picked the day for Hearts and Hands

we tried hard to pick a "free" day.

Of course, over time we discovered we picked the same day as the scout show and prom.

 We know many of you wanted to be with us, but had personal or family responsibilities today.  We missed you, but we understand.

Hopefully, if you came you had a chance to meet some of the great people who come from other churches in the area.  These wonderful young men have been coming with Pastor Mike from the Community Church for many years.

We will be sad to see the end of Hearts and Hands, but we also feel good about the decision to turn things over the wards and branches.  

Of course, we encourage each of you to find ways to give community service on your own.

We can even provide you with a list of the fabulous charities we've worked with over these last years.  If you are interested contact Francine Palmer or Rexene Tilley for this list, as well as information about the kind of donations we having been providing them.

There are many local organizations that would appreciate your time.

Thank you, sisters, for making Hearts and Hands such a positive, successful project each year.

Maybe you went home like I did: sore muscles, tender, bleeding fingertips,

 

but a heart full of gladness for the privilege of serving

and a deeper appreciation for my own blessings.

 By the end of the day our distribution tables were again overflowing.

We give a special thanks to the sisters from both stakes who were ward and branch coordinators, project leaders, creators of posters and advertising, and organizers of all kinds.  Thank you, Francine and Rexene for all of the time and effort you put into making this year's event so wonderful.

We are indebted to priesthood brethren from several wards who set up hundreds of chairs and tables, then came and took them down and helped us clean up.

 We love our missionaries who cheerfully loaded waiting charity vans and chairs with our finished products.