Volunteers needed for flooding relief work

GROVE CITY, Pa. — Western Pennsylvania farmers and other volunteers are heading back to Iowa to help with cleanup following the flooding that began in early March and was repeated several times throughout the spring.

“Some people have not been able to get back in their homes since early March,” said J.R. Byers, organizer of the relief trip.

The group plans return Aug. 5-11 to Sydney, Iowa where they delivered supplies in the spring. Additional volunteers are needed.

“It will be dirty work,” Byers said. “We need people who can operate heavy equipment, repair farm machinery and are willing to help with rehabbing the first floors of homes.”

Byers is not new to this process. In 2017, he helped organize a group to take supplies and hay to ranchers in western Kansas following wildfires. A few months later, a crew returned to Ashland, Kansas, to help ranchers rebuild fence, repair homes and anything else that needed done.

Volunteers will work alongside farmers from the Sydney area. The farmers have not been able to plant their fields and the crop from 2018 stored in bins was destroyed by the floodwaters. To volunteer to help or for more information call 814-657-6128.