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A Smile and a Little Elbow Grease
By Shannon Hext
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 — Public Support Coordinator, American Red Cross in Southeastern Wisconsin
“I had it in my mind that there was no way I was going to get flooded,” John Snyder says, gazing at an American Red Cross flyer about post-disaster water treatment.
But after 19 years living on the river, John knew how important it was to be prepared. He started gathering up items to take with him and moving valuables to higher shelves where they couldn’t be damaged. Unfortunately, water from the Crawfish River kept creeping closer to his Columbus home that Sunday night. The knock on the door to evacuate was inevitable.
“You can’t give up. Quitting is not in my vocabulary,” he told Red Cross caseworker Sylvia Lee Young at a Service Center at Columbus High School a week later. After a week of staying at his neighbor’s house and checking on his property with his boat, he had come to the Service Center for clean up kits and information about sanitary water and other recovery tips.
He knows clean up will be difficult. But John is ready to work, armed with information about protecting himself while he is cleaning up.
So, with a fistful of information and a clean up kit, help from his Red Cross caseworker and a resourceful attitude, he headed back home to start recovery.
“You can always get by with a smile and a little elbow grease,” he says.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and counsels victims of disasters; provides nearly half of the nation's blood supply; teaches lifesaving skills; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization – not a government agency – and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its humanitarian mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org or join our blog at www.redcrosschat.org.
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