Tragedy Makes Way For Service

After a meeting our church leaders had on Saturday night, Chris and all the "Presidents" of the organizations called the ward members and told them that all three wards would meet at 9:30am for a one hour sacrament meeting. The church was packed - with even a few members who don't come very often. The stake president and area authority seventy (Chris' former bishop, Bishop Cherrington) spoke about service. They basically said "go home and get your work clothes on." After the meeting, we divided into wards and were told what service was needed.
Upon going home, one of the young women, Millie, agreed to watch Cadence and Cooper so I could participate. We took the kids there and then started at Eris' house. I dug out a recently planted flower bed, and replanted the bulbs and perenials that were in it.

Our ward group moved from house to house doing whatever we could to the outside and inside (if they had something for us). These are some of the projects we did. Scraping the mud off the sidewalks, parking strip and street and into piles for the street cleaner or dump truck. Notice all the volunteers.
Pressure washing driveways.
Digging out the irrigation ditch. There was so much mud in it. After it was "dug out," it filled back up with mud quickly and had to be redug again. Notice the pile of mud on the side. When I was digging, I almost got my feet permanently stuck in it. Luckily, I came out the ditch with both shoes!!!Our ward was assigned a time to assist at the worst yard (the one on the corner of Crockett and Canyon). Here we are receiving instruction from the CERT team.
After we got our instructions, we got a hard hat and orange vest! Totally hot (and sweaty from the prior group!) My neighbor Angie and her mom, Lisa, are so fun!Some people gave service by making cookies and treats for the volunteers. Others manned the 'fill-up and stay dehydrated station.' I volunteered to eat quite a few cookies and popsicles!!!This is the yard that was hardest hit. They will have to replant grass because there is no way to get all the mud out of there. It was 3-6" thick through most of it and did not come out easily.

This is just some of the mud that was shoveled out of the yard. It was so hard to get the mud out. Not your normal mud!!!
There were hundreds of people from wards and members of other faiths who just showed up to serve. It is awesome to see neighborhoods, wards, and a city come together for a common purpose. In disasters, the best of a person comes out!!!