Following recent flooding in Lewis County, Washington, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as “the Mormons”) kits and offer assistance in cleaning.
Ten thousand cleaning kits were sent on trucks from Salt Lake City and distributed to people whose homes had been affected. The kits contained rubber gloves, cleaners, and cleaning items, and were packed in buckets that could also be used in the clean-up.
“A lot of the homes are absolutely covered with mud,” noted Scott Turner, a local Church leader, to www.lds.org.
Hygiene kits, blankets, and sleeping bags were also made available at the two Mormon church buildings that were used as shelters for those displaced by the flooding.
The buckets containing the cleaning kits came in handy for at least one flooding victim. At the home of Steve Roberts, according to The Olympian, the floods brought so much mud into his house that volunteers removed the contents from the cleaning kits and used the buckets to scoop up the mud.
The buckets, as well as shovels, wheelbarrows, pickup trucks, and anything else that could be used were pressed into service for both mud and debris removal throughout the affected area. In a news video at The Olympian’s website, one resident gratefully noted the yellow-shirted Latter-day Saints who had come to help with the cleanup, as well as other volunteers from throughout the community.
“The valley is filled with the nicest people,” remarked Rod Lewis to The Olympian. His property was damaged by the floods, and Mormon volunteers helped him clean out his garage.
Other faiths who provided volunteers included the Salvation Army and Faith Lutheran Church. Businesses near the flooded area collected donations for those affected by the floods.
Stephen Daniels-Brown, a spokesman for the the Mormon Church, said that this is just the beginning of the recovery process. “The larger community in Southwest Washington is going to have to come to the realization that this is going to take weeks and weeks to get people back in their homes,” he said to The Olympian.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, current prophet and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has said: “All about us there are many who are in need of help and who are deserving of rescue. Our mission in life, as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, must be a mission of saving. There are the homeless, the hungry, the destitute.” (President Gordon B. Hinckley, “Our Mission of Saving,” Ensign, Nov. 1991, 59)
It is wonderful to see so many people taking this counsel seriously, helping those who have found themselves in need.
