"Hold on to hope"

Recent UI grad Kimn Swenson Gollnick writes:

"As a nontraditional adult student, I managed to graduate from the University of Iowa last month just a week before my son graduated from high school and just three weeks before this historic flood swallowed eastern Iowa. The flood made us breathless with the incomprehensible level of rising rivers that left such devastation in their wake. Since I live in Marion with my family, I worried not only about Cedar Rapids but about the condition of the UI campus, particularly the EPB and Adler Journalism buildings where I spent so much time these past two years.

Just as I prepared to help with sandbagging efforts, officials closed I-380, cutting off access between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. I never felt so helpless. So I called a volunteer line—if I couldn't help in Iowa City, I certainly could help in Cedar Rapids. I now have a Tuesday route for Meals-on-Wheels delivering hot lunches to the needy. My husband and I delivered snacks and drinks to the police department when officers were working 16-hour shifts. I helped sort, fold and distribute donated clothing and shoes at Mission of Hope. I helped with the Red Cross distribution at the Sam's Club parking lot on Blairs Ferry Road, loading victims' cars with water, clean-up kits, spray sanitizer and boxes of masks. Many of these weary souls smiled through the numbness.

Over the past two weeks I have met dozens of people who I know only by first names but for whom I feel a great and glorious bond. In retrospect, I experienced Mount St. Helens when it blew in Washington state and it pulled the citizens together. Now I am in Iowa, working alongside my neighbors, students, professors and friends, fellow citizens all. Hold on to hope and we will get through this horrific event together."