The record-breaking 2017 Missouri Floods have impacted close to 1000 homes that either sustained major damage or were totally inundated. It was also reported that several small towns in South Central Missouri were destroyed, wiping out most of the region. The ACS DR Teams are supporting 18 Multi Agency Resource Centers (MARCs) with Ambassadors in two different locations. These Centers are led out by Nancy Tarasenko (St. Louis) and Kathy Beijen (Kansas City).
We have partnered with various other help agencies such as Gleaning for the World – a Virginia based organization and Convey of Hope, who have donated a tremendous amount of distribution supplies. Delivery trucks are provided by Penske Truck, another partner organization. Two Penske trucks loaded with immediate need supplies were distributed at the MARCs in Valley Park in St. Louis and Van Buren this past weekend. There are two other Penske trucks deployed in St. Louis, and two stationed in Lebanon.
One storage trailer was deployed to the Newton County Office of Emergency Management in Neosho where 350 Flood Buckets where delivered. The DR Team also purchased 500 Storage totes from Lowes in Joplin who graciously gave them a 30%+ discount which translated to over $5000.00 worth of Totes for $3400.00 without any tax. These were in answer to a request by the Emergency Manager Charla Gelker, for distribution to all of the flooded families in her county which was one of the hardest hit.
The State Emergency Management leaders are looking to set up a Warehouse and a Point of Distribution in West Plains. Jody is in contact with Derrick Lea, NAD ACS DR Director, to get an additional warehouse management team on standby, once a warehouse is obtained. The city of Sunnydale has been gracious enough for allowing us to use the empty Industry space to house the donations that have come and are on the way. Jody Dickhaut has personally received a lot of positive feedback on just how much our ACS (Yellow Shirts – as we’re called) mean to our peers and especially to the survivors of the floods.
