Flood Relief Missions

Flood Relief Missions began in the summer of 2008, in response to a "call to serve" by Fr. Sammie Maletta in one of his many stewardship-based homilies. Major flood damage ravaged parts of Iowa in June of that year and our Faith Without Borders ministry coordinators initiated the plans with the East Central Iowa Corridor Recovery and St. Pius X Church located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

After two Flood Relief Missions in August and September, the Faith Without Borders team was called to serve locally as devastating flood waters paralyzed numerous cities and towns in Northwest Indiana. The local relief efforts were initiated in September 2008 by our Disaster Response Team and continue nearly weekly since that time to assist homeowners that have limited or no resources.

Our Flood Relief Mission teams are ready and willing to respond to calls in the future for flood relief and will journey to destinations unknown at this point.

If you are ready to answer the call when the need arises, sign up to be on our call list. Our Faith Without Borders teams consist of people from dozens of communities and numerous faith denominations, and welcome others regardless of a church affiliation. Come, join our team!

Opportunities to Get Involved

• Volunteers muck, gut, clean, sweep, sanitize, repair and/or repair homes that have been negatively impacted by flood disasters.
• Typically the volunteer work is done over a long weekend: Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Volunteers caravan to the destination, allowing for flexibility of schedule to accommodate a volunteers need to work one, two, or three days as they can depart at different times
• Typical volunteer hours range from 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m, Evening dinners or activities can be done with the team or on your own. Housing accommodations are also flexible for volunteers to stay with the team typically at a low or no cost location (i.e. school gym) or at a hotel with expenses covered by the individual volunteer
• Donations are accepted including tools and other home repair supplies
• Offer monetary donations to the Foundation for Peace & Social Justice to support this Faith Without Borders ministry and other Peace & Social Justice ministries.

Testimonials

"Each person we meet on every mission trip changes me. The solidarity is a unique experience and we grow a bit more each time. Getting to share a bit of this experience with my children is so exciting." Barb Popiela

> Read additional testimonials

How to Volunteer

Ministry Coordinators: Mary Anne Koke and Helen Rutkowski
Contact Ministry Coordinator: (219) 776-3381 or FWB line: (219) 365-5678, ext. 244
Email: fwb@stjohnparish.org

Complete and sign the Liability Release Form and submit to the Coordinator upon arrival to volunteer.

News and Recognition

Flood Relief Missions bulletin articles
Iowa Mission bulletin article 1 - August 2008
Iowa Mission bulletin article 2 - August 2008
Iowa Mission article - September 2008
Northwest Indiana Catholic News article: Sept. 2008 - FWB Iowa Mission [news-article archive]