Unsinkable Spirit Fund created to help Q-C flood victims

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By Kay Luna | Saturday, July 19, 2008 |

Ophelia Brooks, 72, of Davenport, shows visitors the basement of her Tremont Avenue home, where 2 1/2 feet of water backed up through a drain the night of the June 12 flash floods. (Kevin Schmidt/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Buy this Photo

Shaking her head, Ophelia Brooks holds up several sheets of paper on which she has scribbled phone number after phone number after phone number.

The 72-year-old retired cook says she has called every one of those numbers while seeking help after floodwaters backed into her Davenport home’s drain and filled the basement in June. The water destroyed several essential home appliances, including her water heater, and she cannot afford to replace them.

Every call she makes, she seems to reach someone who tells her that agency or department cannot help. Meanwhile, she has not been able to bathe or do laundry at home for more than a month.

“I am desperate,” she said Friday. “I’m a very strong woman, but I’ve been under so much stress. Money has gotten so tight.”

Brooks is indicative of the reason behind the new Unsinkable Spirit Flood Relief Fund created to help Quad-City area residents affected by the unprecedented 2008 flooding who are not covered by insurance, state or federal assistance. Sponsors of the fund are the Quad-City Times, United Way of the Quad-Cities Area, the Quad-City Times Bix 7 and the Quad-Cities River Bandits.

Not only were people impacted by the twin floods of the Mississippi River and flooding along the Wapsipinicon and Rock rivers, but hundreds of residents also experienced damage from heavy rains and flash flooding June 12.

“All of us know people who have been severely impacted by the flooding,” Times Publisher Julie Bechtel said. “Especially in these tough economic times, we wanted to provide a way that all of us can help our neighbors in need.”

That includes people such as Brooks, just one of several flood victims who will be featured in stories published in the Times over the next several weeks.

Brooks moved into her two-story home along Tremont Avenue in 1980. She said her basement took on water during the Great Flood of ‘93 but nothing like it did June 12, when she noticed water seeping in through her drain.

The water soon rose to more than 2½ feet, covering three bottom steps in her very old basement with its low ceiling, stone walls and concrete floor. In addition to damaging appliances, the floodwaters also ruined boxes of books, bags of photos and other “very important” things she had in storage, she said.

“It was like a swimming pool down there,” she added.

Her furnace and water heater were fairly new. She had used the furnace through only two winters and bought the water heater six months after purchasing the furnace, Brooks said.

Volunteers from Quad-City Bank & Trust came to her house to clear out the water-soaked belongings, but the basement still needs to be cleaned and sterilized, said Karen Coats, program assistant at Generations Area Agency on Aging in Davenport, who walked through the smelly, mud-caked basement Friday.

She said Christa Merritt, assistant director at Generations, has visited Brooks several times and was the one who nominated her for help through the new flood-relief program.

Brooks has been traveling every other day to her niece’s house in Rock Island, where she bathes. On the days she stays at home, she takes a sponge bath using a pan of cold water.

She also has been driving to a coin-operated laundry to wash and dry her clothes, and the cost of filling her station wagon’s fuel tank is getting to be too much, she said.

“It’s just been something,” said Brooks, who added that she worked as a cook at Oakwood Country Club, Miss Mamie’s Catfish House and the Holiday Inn, Moline, for years prior to retiring several years ago.

“Money has gotten so tight I’m actually thinking about going back to work somewhere,” she said. “No wonder I see so many senior citizens working at different places. It’s not easy at all.”

Kay Luna can be contacted at (563) 383-2323 or kluna@qctimes.com.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The Unsinkable Spirit Flood Relief Fund — sponsored by the Quad-City Times, United Way of the Quad-Cities Area, the Quad-Cities River Bandits and the Quad-City Times Bix 7 — will benefit area residents who were impacted by the 2008 flooding and not covered by insurance, state or federal assistance.

The United Way will be working through its member agencies to identify flood victims to be considered for assistance from the fund. Victims also can apply for donations by filling out a form that will be available next week on the Web sites of the Times (qctimes.com/donate), United Way (unitedwayqc.org) and the River Bandits (riverbandits.com).

Applications must include formal damage estimates. Telephone calls will not be accepted for solicitation of funds or to check on the status of an application.

A sponsors’ committee will go over applications to determine who will receive awards and how much.

The awards will be paid directly to service providers for replacement goods and services. Flood victims will not receive cash

payments.

WHERE TO DONATE MONEY

Donations can be mailed directly to the Quad-City Times, 500 E. 3rd St., Davenport, IA 52801. Checks should be made out to the United Way, with “Unsinkable Spirit” written in the memo space. Donations also can be made online at qctimes.com/donate.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

The Unsinkable Spirit Fund is accepting monetary donations. Seed money provided by the Quad-City Times and the United Way is being used to launch the effort. Other efforts will contribute to the fund, including:

-- Half of all Bix 7 entry fees after the first 15,000 registrants will go toward the cause.

-- Proceeds from the sale of special T-shirts, which will soon be available at the Times building and Modern Woodmen Park, will go into the fund.

-- Special collection boxes for donations will be placed at the Times, Modern Woodmen Park, United Way offices and other locations. Businesses interested in displaying donation boxes should contact the Times marketing department at (563) 383-2225.

-- On Aug. 11, the Times will donate a portion of proceeds from single-copy sales and the River Bandits will donate half of the gate receipts from that night’s game at Modern Woodmen Park to the fund. Other businesses willing to donate a portion of their profits on that day should contact the Times marketing department.

-- Plans also are in the works for a community-wide casual dress work day in which businesses would ask participating employees for a $1 donation toward the fund.

SPONSORS HAIL FUND

Scott Crane, the president of the United Way of the Quad-Cities Area, said he was pleased when the Times approached him about getting involved in the new flood-relief fund. The United Way receives many calls through its 211 telephone line, which is its information and referral service, from people in need of help with flood-related damage, he said.

"While many local agencies, including the Red Cross, have done a wonderful job helping with the recovery effort, there are still people in need," he said. "This fund will help area residents that have exhausted those other resources."

Keith Lucier, the River Bandits assistant general manager, said the baseball franchise has been trying to think of a way to give back to the Quad-Cities after the way the community supported the team during the floods this spring and summer.

When Modern Woodmen Park was surrounded by floodwaters, fans kept coming to the games, "even when they had to walk across a 400-foot wooden pedestrian bridge built by city workers."

"We had crowds of over 4,000 both times," Lucier said, adding that he never heard anyone complain about the inconveniences that came with that kind of flooding just outside the ballpark. "To see that kind of support from the community, this is the least we can do."