"Nechama" is the Hebrew word for "comfort",
but
for some
disaster survivors of the upper Midwest it might just as
well
mean "Godsend".
In 1994 a Minnesotan named Steve Lear responded as a
volunteer in the aftermath of a major flood that struck
Des
Moines, Iowa. As a result of his experience there, Lear
founded a Twin Cities-based
Jewish volunteer organization
Jewish volunteer organization
whose primary mission is helping
victims clean up after natural
disasters.
Three others soon joined Lear:
Gene Borochoff, Todd Heilicher,
and Perry Witkin. Together the
four men have become the backbone
of the organization they
named "Nechama — Jewish
Disaster Response".
In the years since Nechama
began, her many volunteers have
been responsible for helping
hundreds of families do the dirty
job of cleaning up after nature
makes a mess. Here are a few
stories of the countless lives they
have touched, and how the lives
of both volunteers and victims
have been changed in the
process.
Fargo, North Dakota–Moorhead, Minnesota;
April 1997
Nechama arrived the Sunday after the infamous flood had
nearly wiped out these two sister cities.
One of the first people they helped was a woman who said
"she just couldn’t cope again"— she had
lost everything
in two earlier floods. She had sold her home in the
lowlands
and moved to an apartment on high ground nowhere near
the river.
Unfortunately, the 1997 flooding caused widespread power
outages that in turn caused sewer lift stations to fail.
This
time it was sewage, not water, that had backed up in her
apartment building and damaged her basement apartment.
Nechama volunteers helped remove the soaked and soiled
furniture and took it all to the curb.They moved those
possessions
that were still dry to temporary storage in a nearby
garage.
The daughter of the woman thanked them and shared how
her mother had just "fallen apart". The woman
was unable
to do anything to help herself or
to do anything to help herself or
her home. Their friends and
neighbors were busy with their
own flooding and not available to
help. Nechama had made a difference
in the life of this woman…
…In addition to working long
hours with the local Fargo–Moorhead
volunteers, groups from a
Mennonite Church near Winnipeg,
Canada also joined the team.
Each day a fresh group of twenty
volunteers arrived in Fargo ready
to go to work at 8 a.m. — after
driving four hours to get there.
Nechama was able to provide the
tools and equipment the Mennonite
group needed to help clean
flood-ravaged basements.
One afternoon while working side
by side with members of this
group cleaning a basement, a
Nechama volunteer stopped to
reflect on the fact that here was an effective team of
Jews
from the Twin Cities and Mennonites from Canada helping
to clean and restore the home of a Muslim family who had
moved to Fargo from Somalia.
He realized that this is Nechama’s vision of the way
the world
is supposed to work. The big task is to make that happen
every day instead of having to wait for a disaster.
Eagan, Minnesota; Summer 2000
The flash flood that hit Eagan, Minnesota caused sudden
and unexpected damage to hundreds of homes.
After cleaning and disinfecting a flooded basement where
everything had been lost, the owner of the home
approached
a Nechama volunteer and gave him $100. The volunteer
insisted that there was no charge but the man
said, "Listen, I was taught that you give back
when you are helped. I couldn’t have bought
your services for a thousand dollars this week,
and that’s if I could have found anyone to available
to help.You take the money and use it to
help others."
Mabel, Minnesota; Summer 2000
The flooding in Mabel, a town of about 745
people,was the worst in 20 years.
After most of the work cleaning up from the
flood in Mabel was complete, one Nechama
volunteer and his son went back to help finish
what was left and pick up the trailer left by
earlier crews. They got to Mabel at about 7 p.m.
and found that the trailer’s tail-light harness
would not fit the hitch on the truck they were
driving.
There are no stores open in Mabel after 5 p.m.
The one and only gas station in town did not
have the supplies needed to retrofit the harness.
They drove down an alley and saw a gentleman
working in his garage and stopped to ask if he
had any wire and electrical tape to splice a new
harness together.
The man saw the trailer and immediately said,
"Oh, Nechama — you people saved a lot of our
homes, you can have anything I’ve got." They
thanked him and went about fixing the lights.
To add to the day’s frustration, it started to rain,
hard, and the volunteer — wet and tired — said
to his son as they stood in the rain trying to get
the lights to work, "What are we doing out here
in the middle of the night, cleaning up flooded
basements full of crud and standing in the rain
getting soaked?" It was a rhetorical question,
really, but frustration had gotten the better of
him for a moment.
The moment didn’t last long. His 13-year-old
son turned to him and said, "Dad, we are
Nechama — it’s what we do."
|
Each week during the summer Nechama participates in a conference call
among all the emergency agencies and faith-based assistance programs in
Minnesota. Together they assess current damage and assignments.
One week, the head of one of the Christian-based
organizations said they had lots of people available for a disaster
relief project but no tools. As one Nechama volunteer said:
"Imagine our smiles and the jokes we later told when I informed her
that the Jews could bring the power tools — 3 trailers
full!"
Nearly 90 non-Jewish helpers teamed up with Nechama that
weekend! |
Nechama currently maintains three fully equipped
disaster-response trailers stocked with tools,
equipment and supplies needed for cleanup from
floods, storms, and tornadoes.
They carry everything they might need to cope with a
variety of disaster scenes including: high-volume water
pumps,
generators, chain saws, power washers, wet vacs, portable
lighting,
ventilation fans, wheelbarrows, shovels, etc.
Though self funded, Nechama is now based at the Jewish
Community
Relations Council (a beneficiary agency of the
Minneapolis
Jewish Federation and St. Paul United Jewish Fund and
Council.)
Someday, hopefully, every city will have a Nechama. If
you are
interested in getting Nechama started in your community,
contact
Perry Witkin at pwitkin@nechama.org or Gene Borochoff at
gborochoff@nechama.org. |
Being
a more ETHICAL person.