Step up to help; you won’t regret it

In early December, there was a flood in Adna, Lewis County. We heard stories about how one man lost all his cattle and had to listen to them moo while they were drowning. Another family lost their sheep for their creamery; a boat from their porch rescued the family. To describe how high the water was, the boat went over train tracks that usually are 15 feet above the riverbank.

But thanks to my family and many others, those victims were able to keep living as best they could.

My mom and I helped in the kitchen serving food to victims and workers who came back after helping to have lunch. My dad helped shovel mud from people’s yards. We would fill boxes for families to last them a couple of days. Some families just came every day for their meals.

One man came back literally covered from head to toe with mud. He said that there was an older couple and they needed the insulation taken out of the crawl space and no one would help them, so he did, and the muddy man even went to look for people to help him.

After we stopped working we drove down to see people’s houses. Some houses didn’t look that bad, but then some did. As we drove past the fields you could see furniture and garbage and other stuff from people’s houses in the fields that floated out of their homes.

It was a real shock to hear victims tell what happened to them. I’d like to encourage everyone to look into those in need and find stuff in your house that you can give to help others. I’m sure glad I was there and I will never regret it.

Justine Saxton

7th grader