Ft Collins Flood help

I would like to thank those of you on the list who responded so
generously with offers to help after my post about the July 28
flood here in Ft. Collins. I made inquiries as to losses of
troop/pack equipment, but most losses were to individual scouts
which was almost impossible to get info on. As a whole the Fort
Collins community banded together to deal with the crisis, as
well as our neighboring cities and towns. I heard that the Red
Cross people that came in were simply amazed by the amount of
help and donations that were volunteered.

In Troop 12 that I visited last week as commissioner, the
Scoutmaster, as his SM minute, went around the circle and had
each scout and scouter tell how much time they had spent helping
with the aftermath of the flooding. Out of the 25-30 that were
there, they had put in more than 200 hours, mostly as
individuals helping neighbors, family, and friends. As a troop
they helped out at the church where they meet to clean water and
mud out of the basement. I was very impressed with these young
men.

I would also like to share the letter to the editor from our
district chairman that appeared in our local newspaper, the
Coloradoan, this morning:

BOY SCOUTS DID WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO DO -- HELP

I would like to extend a personal thank you to all the Boy
Scouts, leaders, siblings and general volunteers who so
generously gave of their time, energy, equipment and supplies to
help with the cleanup of the July 28 flood in Fort Collins.
Between July 29 and Aug. 3, 13 troops and one Cub Scout Pack
from the Thompson-Poudre District, comprising some 150
individuals, cleaned up at more than 50 sites. Scouts went from
trailer to trailer in the devastated mobile home park, helping
residents recover property and mementos and hauling what reained
of personal possessions to temporary, emergency housing.
Throughout the city, Scouts and Scouters filled sandbags,
hauled sodden carpets from basements, loaded and hauled away
trash, heaved ruined furniture into dumpsters, wet-vacuumed and
cleaned out flooded storage units next to the mobile home park,
removed a ruined linoleum floor, cleared out yard debris, moved
furniture to dry locations and removed trash from streets.
Every request was met.
I would say that words cannot express the feelings of those
involved, but first-year Scout Nate Rankin summed it all up on
camera for Channel 9 and CNN. "We just help. We're Boy Scouts.
That's what we do. We help."

Bill Emslie, district chair, Thompson-Poudre
District,
Longs Peak
Council, BSA

Bill is referring to the district-wide effort he organized. It
was listed in the paper along with other organizations,
businesses, etc., that were available to help. I am sure that
that were many, many more Scouts and Scouters that, like Troop
12, pitched to help as individuals in countless ways. I am very
proud to be a part of this organization where service to others
is lived as well as taught.

YiS,
Carol Breuer, Fort Collins, CO
Unit Commissioner
. . . I used to be an eagle, NC-155

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