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Officials hope relief will flood in for Minot families

  • Published
  • By Crystal Jordan
  • Air Force Global Strike Command Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  With waters still above flood levels weeks after the natural disaster began in Minot, N.D., Air Force Global Strike Command officials are telling the public how they can donate to relief and recovery efforts.

More than 1,100 Airmen and family members from nearby Minot Air Force Base were displaced from their homes when the Souris River crested June 25, sending water up to 13 feet deep into the heart of the city of Minot. Airmen who owned and rented homes in the now-flooded area are beginning to return to see firsthand what they left behind.

As conditions permit, residents are being allowed back to visit homes that are flooded, damaged and needing costly repairs and replacements.

A number of relief efforts have been launched to ease the impact, officials say. Donations will be used to help families through the disaster.

"Anything and everything helps," said Chaplain (Col.) Gerald McManus, command chaplain for Air Force Global Strike Command. "Some of our Airmen have lost everything."

Lt. Col. Jon Dawson, who serves as the inspector general at Minot Air Force Base, is among the Airmen picking up the pieces.

"My family and I evacuated June 23," Colonel Dawson said. He said his family had a chance to remove many of their possessions before the floods reached his home and his family's household goods are now "randomly scattered between neighbors."

"Flood waters completely submerged our basement and reached approximately three to four feet on the first floor," he said. "We've begun the clean-up process."
 
"It's a major mess."

One way Air Force people worldwide can donate to the Minot cause is at their local installation chapels and while attending chapel services. Beginning July 1, the Air Force Chaplain Corps spearheaded a service-wide "designated offering," Chaplain McManus said, "given of free will and entirely designated for Minot Airmen and their families."

A $15,000 donation was one of the first to be presented, officials note. A check was sent from the Barksdale Air Force Sergeants Association to OPERATION WARMHEART for the Minot flood relief only days after the flooding began.

Members of the public can also donate to the relief efforts by contacting OPERATION WARMHEART directly through the Minot Airman and Family Readiness Center.

Monetary funds are "especially important" to the recovery effort, said Cindy Whitesell, chief of Airman and Family Readiness at Minot.

"Most displaced and affected Airmen had an opportunity to clear their homes of critical personal belongings before the flood," she explained, "but now are returning to homes that need a lot of work, so dollars can really improve this process for them."

OPERATION WARMHEART is a year-round program designed to assist Airmen and their families through times of hardship.

OPERATION WARMHEART asks donors to make checks payable to "Operation WarmHeart" and to place the words "flood relief" in the memo line and mail to the following address:

Minot Airman and Family Readiness Center
22 Peacekeeper Place
Minot, N.D. 58705

The chapel offerings will continue to be collected through August 8 and will be transferred to OPERATION WARMHEART, McManus said.

"Taking care of our Air Force Family is our heritage," Chaplain McManus said. "We aren't going to stand idly by while our Airmen return home and attempt to pick up the pieces of what was left behind by flood water."