AmeriCorps volunteers help with storm cleanup

HURLEY - As Iron County continues to recover from the storms and flooding that hit the region earlier this month, a group of AmeriCorps volunteers arrived to help residents cleanup storm damage in their homes.

The eight volunteers that make up team Cedar 4 - between the ages of 19 and 23 - came from the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps' North Central region; which includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

The team arrived Saturday from Wabeno, Wis., where they were building a boardwalk, and left Monday.

Iron County Health Officer Zona Wick said she and other county officials brought the team in after hearing from residents who needed help.

"What we were hearing from people was - because Iron County has the highest senior citizen population in the state - we had a lot of people out there that were having trouble getting water out of their basements, doing their cleaning, there were a lot of issues," Wick said.

She explained the topic of resources, such as AmeriCorps volunteers, came up during a call with state officials in the days following the storm.

The Health Department sent out calls for those needing assistance when the AmeriCorps volunteers arrived, received 30 reports of homes with damage - with roughly 15 to 20 responses that included work the team could do.

Wick said the county prioritized homes and digitally mapped them, before sending the team out.

Living up to their motto of getting things done, the team worked primarily in the Saxon and Gurney area - the part of the county hardest hit by the July 11 storm.

Their efforts consisted of a variety of jobs; including ripping out carpeting, cleaning basements and other rebuilding as necessary.

"(We) did whatever people asked us to do," Wick said. "We got some tears and some hugs, people were very happy that (the group) came all this way."

Overall, the volunteers have received a popular reaction from the community, Wick said.

All eight team members are working through their first stint with AmeriCorps - a 10-month term that requires 1,700 volunteer hours.

Team members explained the team members come from all over the country, working on projects that generally last six to eight weeks.

"We apply and then they assign us to a campus," said team leader Jason Phipps, who said they go on four projects a year as well as responding to disasters as they occur.

Cedar 4 has previously worked in Flint delivering bottled water there.

The team members said they joined AmeriCorps for a variety of reasons.

"I did it to see different job fields, I didn't know what I wanted to do for college," said team member Dylan Elman.

Elman said he has gotten a lot out of his time there, and he has definitely matured as a result.

Phipps said he volunteered as a way to continue serving his community.

"I exhausted a lot of the service opportunities that were in my hometown, I kind of did everything I could and there wasn't as much of a need for service as I could have provided," Phipps said. "So this has helped me find other avenues for service."

Since they come from all over the country, some team members had a bit of a learning curve adjusting to life in middle America.

"Flies bite in the Midwest, they don't bite where I'm from," Phipps joked.

While there were almost a dozen homes in Saxon and Gurney that needed their help, Wick said the team's skill and ability to work smoothly together made quick work of the task.

"We had these 11 homes we went to. But eight people, they work so fast it's just amazing," Wick said. "They work hard - plus (there's) eight of them, they can clear out an entire basement in no time. It's just amazing what they can do."

One of the most challenging aspects of the cleanup effort was the uniforms of coveralls, hard hats, gloves and respirators required due to the possible presence of mold.

"It was 90 degrees, with 90 percent humidity, and they're all in uniform going to these homes," Wick said, "because again we don't know how much mold we were going to get into."

The weather meant the one of the biggest challenges of the cleanup effort was ensuring everyone took the necessary breaks and were staying hydrated while they worked, Phipps said.

That said, considering the team began their service doing wild-fire prevention work, the AmeriCorps volunteers have had more challenging assignments.

"We work a day-and-a-half and then we get to stay in a hotel," they joked.