News you can use
News you can use
Jordan Nelson and his peers from University of Idaho work together to fit a rafter beam into place in a 3rd Street basement that was damaged by standing water after the 2013 flood.
Relief efforts after the extensive damage caused by flooding that plagued Havre last spring continue this year, and a group of college students from Idaho is working at low-income households, damaged in last year's flooding, during their spring break.
The students, who are pursuing degrees at the University of Idaho, are working today on their second house since arriving in Havre at the beginning of the week. The damage to the houses was to their basement level, and the students have been ripping out drywall, replacing walls and removing black mold that was caused by standing water.
Jordan Nelson is one of the UI students working in Havre for the week. The group was working on a 3rd Street home Wednesday, where they were replacing the walls.
Nelson said they had to redo the ceiling, replace the framing in the walls, rip up the flooring and more.
"(All of us) attend the same church," Nelson said. "And we were looking for a project to do over spring break. We try to treat our time with purpose."
Some of the students have majors that overlap with some of the work they are doing with the remodelings, but many of them have majors like international studies, nutrition and elementary education.
Brynn Hathaway is a senior who is applying for medical school to further her degree in nutrition. Hathaway said she followed her friends on the trip to Montana.
"A couple of my friends decided to come on the trip," Hathaway said. "I wanted to spend more time with them, and I wanted to make it a meaningful last break."
"These are college students and this is how they're spending their spring break," Dan Stewart said. Stewart is the state disaster relief coordinator for the Montana Southern Baptist Convention.
Stewart's job is to direct groups of volunteers who sign up to help Montana families and residents with homes that have been damaged by natural disasters. The convention pairs up with The Salvation Army, which provides the funding for the materials used in remodeling the homes of those who cannot afford to repair them.
"We're a nongovernmental organization," Stewart said. "We travel around wherever there's need."
Stewart is directing another team of 20 college students from Kansas south of Chinook. This group is working on a cattle ranch, repairing fencing that was also damaged by the flooding.
"We've got about 50-something homes identified between here and Fort Belknap as being in need of assistance in renovation," Stewart said.
The next home to be repaired by the various groups Stewart oversees is determined by its priority rank. The homes that ranked the highest are the ones the have the most damage or damage that needs to be repaired the soonest.
Stewart said he hopes to be done with the repairs for the homes by the end of September, but when the end is reached will be up to the amount of damage he and his teams have to repair.
"Minot, N.D. took three years," Stewart said. "They just finished up this year - it took three years to finally get all the damages done."
The 16 Idaho students are housed at the Emmanuel Baptist Church while they work in Havre for their spring breaks.
"It says a lot about young people," Stewart said. "Most kids, it's party hardy on the beach and the picture don't get back to momma. These kids can be proud of what they did for their spring breaks."
Reader Comments(0)