Darrington students aid flood recovery

Published 10:30 pm Wednesday, December 26, 2007

DARRINGTON — They simply wanted to lend a hand.

Four Darrington High School honors students were moved enough by television and newspaper images of flood-ravaged Lewis County to make the three-hour drive to Chehalis on Sunday to help in the tedious, tiring and muddy cleanup work.

In a steady downpour, they spent the day hosing and sweeping muck from the home of Chehalis resident Luke Sherman, 43, whose house was under more than 8 feet of water when winter storms hit southwest Washington hard earlier this month. He has lived there since he was 19.

“We felt really good to help out,” said Maggie Wicken, 17, a senior. “But it was also hard because you don’t feel like you are getting anything done.”

“I thought that after three weeks, things wouldn’t look so devastated,” she said.

The students, all seniors, sloshed through the mud, salvaging tools from Sherman’s shed, hauling his ruined belongings to a garbage pile and demolishing a damaged section of the shed.

“As soon as we got out of the van, it was hard to find a place to stand without slipping or getting stuck,” said Paden Newberry, another one of the students. “It’s like (Hurricane) Katrina on a small scale.”

Newberry knows firsthand a little bit about the wreckage left by the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history.

He joined Joe Eckerson, an English and Spanish teacher and coordinator of the schools’ National Honor Society chapter, and two classmates when they traveled to New Orleans to help with Katrina relief efforts. They put a roof on a home, tore down damaged siding and insulation and framed doorways.

Classmate Shayla Hooper spent part of her Sunday shoveling mud out of Sherman’s bathtub.

And she’s just glad to have had the chance.

“I was amazed at how bad it actually was, but it felt good to be able to help out,” she said.

Also helping out was fellow student Gavin Gladsjo.

Eckerson set up the trip to Chehalis, knowing that lessons can be learned outside the classroom as well.

“I wanted them to have the same experience of helping others,” Eckerson said. “It can be life changing. It is very humbling to be in that position where you are helping someone and they appreciate it. It will broaden their horizons.”

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or e-mail stevick@heraldnet.com.