Dakota Wesleyan community offers helping hand and hope
MITCHELL, SOUTH DAKOTA —As the floodwaters receded in Mitchell, South Dakota, members of the Dakota Wesleyan University community stepped in to help.
Beginning Thursday afternoon, students and staff from DWU Campus Ministry started to partner with the Salvation Army to help mitigate the crisis for those in the most need. Over the next several days, 25 campus ministry volunteers worked to assess the damage, set up emergency shelters, clear out basements, and help salvage what they could.
DWU Students assist in hauling debris from homes in Mitchell, SD, on Sept. 12, 2019. Photo courtesy of Rev. Denise Van Meter, DWU.
“People were overwhelmed,” said Pastor Denise Van Meter, who organized the relief efforts. “Some of the most important work we did was just to help people feel like they weren’t alone, and they could get through it.”
Community support for flood victims and relief workers was evident throughout the early days of flooding, according to Captain Debbi Middledorp of the Salvation Army. Local businesses sent food and supplies, and stories of neighbors helping neighbors came from every quarter. Still, the work crews sent from Wesleyan played a pivotal role in the initial cleanup.
One of the biggest concerns for Rev. Van Meter, co-director of campus ministries at DWU, were those not fortunate enough to have family or community connections.
“Of the families we helped, none of them had enough resources to clean up on their own,” she said. “We offered much-needed physical labor to get them through the first phase of restoring their lives to normal.”
Others from Dakota Wesleyan, including many of the sports teams, also worked to clean out flooded houses.
While much has been done already, Rev. Van Meter points out that much still remains.
“It’s going to be a long recovery,” she said. “We will be sending out more volunteers as needs arise.”
Watch this video about Dakota Wesleyan University's connection to The United Methodist Church.
