Fighting the Mississippi one bag at a time

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ToastedRav.com was a little quiet this afternoon because the group of us headed up to Winfield, Missouri and lent a hand in the sandbagging operation.

The funny thing about involving yourself in something like that, is you feel like you're not doing enough.  In this case, so many people from so many places had come wanting to help that volunteers were literally tripping over one another.

It was, however, an impressive display of community, not to mention a reminder of how much a few hundred sets of hands can accomplish in a short period of time.  (An enormous pile of sandbags was zipped on to palettes and ready to head for the river in no time!)

In our time there, I briefly ran across one guy who had come down from Iowa to lend a hand.  There were several church groups in bright colored t-shirts who had shown up to do their part.  And in the middle of all those people, you could occasionally spot out the local resident. 

They wore nothing to specifically identify them other than the look of urgency embedded on their faces.  Their eyes are a little more tired, their gaze a little more distant.  The guy from Winfield was the one passing bags at a little faster pace than the rest.  He was the one who kept going a few minutes longer before taking a well deserved break. He was the one who could feel his arms burning but didn't care.

As I sit back in front of my computer at the office, I take a moment to take stock in how lucky I am.  I get to go home tonight.  Some of the people from whom I was taking sandbags in the line this afternoon don't.  They'll continue to fill bags, pass them, load them, and repeat until the danger passes.  Then they'll get to the next project of cleaning up the mess when the water goes down.

Bonneville, the company that owns ToastedRav.com, is the first group I've ever worked for that actually encourages employees to take part or all of a work day and do something for their community.  We did that today, and I'm glad.  The bags we moved and loaded won't be the difference between the waters taking part of the town or not, but combined with everyone else's efforts, maybe we made a little dent.

Most of all, those tired, worried souls who will spend the night wondering if their homes will be okay, can at least be sure they aren't alone or forgotten.  Hundreds of volunteers dispelled that thought with a single voice on the side of the road in Winfield.