Cornellians offer flood relief

CEDAR RAPIDS – In a year in which some of Iowa’s oldest communities were destroyed by record flood waters, even some of its newest residents felt the need to pitch in and help with the disaster.

Over 290 new students, the vast majority of which are not from Iowa, came out for Cornell College’s annual service day on Aug. 30, and lent a hand cleaning up their adopted community. It was an effort to continue Cornell’s support of those hurt in the June floods.

All told, 346 Cornellians mucked, gutted, mowed, moved, cleaned, and otherwise helped put parts of Cedar Rapids back together. Over 1130 hours of service were logged over the course of one day, as faculty, staff, and students worked in 20 homes in Cedar Rapids, helped the Montessori School move to its new location, participated in a community-wide lawn mowing initiative in which volunteers completed 225 lawns, and worked at the Riverside Theatre on their final preparations before opening for the fall season.

A selection of photos of the service day is available in our 2008-2009 Gallery.