St. John’s United Church of Christ will hold their annual Chicken Supper on Thursday, September 11. Buffet serving will begin at 4:30 p.m. Carry outs are available. Adults are $7.00, children 6 to 10 are $3.00, and 5 and under are free.
Pleasant Hill is located at 10009 Union Avenue, rural Nashua. Everyone is invited to attend.

By Kathy Yeckley, First Pres-byterian Church, Sturgis, Michi-gan
Aug. 3 thru Aug. 9, 25 members of Sturgis First Presbyterian Church traveled to North Central Iowa Presbytery to a small town called Clarksville to help aid families recovering from a devastating flood that ravaged their homes in early June. It is hard to believe, but the storm that caused the floodwa-ters was in Minnesota, 90 miles north of Clarksville. This town had never been flooded like this (out-side of the flood plain) so many people did not have flood insur-ance. None of the families we worked with were back into their homes. Many were living in their garage, or a camper, or at relatives. FEMA (Federal Emergency Man-agement Agency) had been through and given the families some funding to restore their homes, but not nearly enough to get them back into their houses. The churches have been the bodies to organize volunteers to assist.
The trip was planned and led by Phil and Carol Ann Pattengale, who also provided the tool trailer and many of the necessary tools. The group departed Sunday afternoon following church services and a send-off luncheon provided by the Presbyterian Women’s group.
Group members, ranging in age from 13 to 77, were Jerrie West, Cathye Frost, Barry Gulliver, Carol Ann Gulliver, Will Johnson, Katie Johnson, Carol Ann Pattengale, Phil Pattengale, Michael Patten-gale, Phyllis Prather, Jim Perry, Karen Perry, Rich Wendt, Ben Wilson, Sorina Swarts, Austin and Terry Wicks, Pastor Mike Wicks, Kathy Yeckley, Rich Yeckley, Tom Corbin, Kaylyn Hite, Bonnie Mag-nus, Roy Manning, and Emily Kirsch.
The First Presbyterian Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa graciously opened their building to our group. A large multi-purpose room, a mu-sic room, and a teen room were used as a dormitory. A large mod-ern kitchen and a dining/meeting area were also provided. All our meals were prepared at this church by Carol Ann Gulliver and Phyllis Prather, who also delivered lunches to the work site daily to maximize working time. Immanuel United Church of Christ, Clarksville was gracious to let us use their fellow-ship hall for lunch and to cool off. Pastor Lynn Busch hosted us. Members of Unity Presbyterian Church, Clarksville and their pas-tor, Rev. John Helmus joined us for lunch also.
The group of 25 was split up into four work teams who were dis-patched to various homes, so that we could get more accom-plished. Kaylene Hoskins, Presby-tery of North Central Iowa Disaster Assistance Coordinator organized the work for us. We worked on 12 homes, from 9:00 to 5:00 each day for five days and did the following jobs: painting entire house inside (walls and ceilings), debris pickup, basement clean out and move, gutting rooms of drywall, carpeting, trim board, linoleum, floor boards, insulating, dry walling, room addi-tion destruction and cleanup, mov-ing furniture, insulation and debris inside houses cleanup, removing damaged and installing new elec-trical to a basement, and painting of basements. There was some blood shed, lots of sweat, and lots of tears, many sore muscles, sanding dust, drywall “mud” splatters, and a lot of black mold and mildewed home debris and furniture.
We worked directly with all the families, many of whom were el-derly, or ill, or dealing with surgeries and cancer or were single mothers. It was so amazing that not only did these families have the flood and it’s repercussions to deal with, but many other health issues. Miraculously, however, all the fam-ilies we dealt with were so joyful at the sight of us and could not be-lieve that we traveled all the way from Michigan to help them, stran-gers to us. One family called us the ‘angels from Michigan’; another lady walked up to us at a gas sta-tion and gave us her spare change and thanked us for helping their town; another elderly couple could not do enough for our comfort while at their home by providing us with chairs, cheese and crackers, ice cold water, and homemade fudge; and yet, they lived in their garage with just a refrigerator and bed.
Every member of our group would recommend a mission trip to anyone. You will learn that you can do things and tolerate things you never imagined; you will come away gratified and energized, and with a new appreciation for those you have helped and those you have worked with; you will learn never to take your comfortable home for granted, and you will feel you are the one that benefited most – it is a curious thing. It is truly more blessed to give than to receive.

The Clarksville AMVETS will be holding their annual Fish Fry on Saturday, September 7. Mark your calendar and plan to attend!

Following the unprecedented disasters that impacted Butler County this year, a new coalition has been formed to oversee the long term recovery for county residents that have been affected. The "Butler County Disaster Recovery Coalition" is made up of representatives from churches, city and county leaders, economic development, county extension, social service agencies, FEMA, emergency man-agement, and others who have the means to offer support and services. This new entity is here to help when all other help has gone or been exhausted. FEMA and private insurance will do what they can, but the coalition will be here to support residents through the coming months, with health and safety being the first priority.
The group has been meeting for nearly a month to get orga-nized, adopt governing by-laws, and get educated on the role they will play. Representatives from Buchanan County, who have had a coalition in place for nearly ten years following the floods of 1999, has been providing guidance for this new effort. Butler County members want to stress that this new resource will be in place permanently, and will be activated anytime a disaster affects multiple households in the county in the future.
For now, the coalition is moving to the next phase for this disaster, which is to begin the process of finding out what needs are not being met for victims, and then following up with the resources to meet the need. This can include purchasing of water heaters or furnaces, connecting them to other resources that will fill their need, or lending a listening ear. Plans call for a team of volunteers to go door to door in the affected areas starting in late Sep-tember to meet privately with victims to fill out a questionnaire. This includes city and rural residents. All information will be kept confidential. More information on this process will be announced as details are confirmed.
Funding to meet the needs of victims will come from several resources, with the main source being the new disaster relief fund that has been established through the Butler County Community Foundation. Individuals and organizations wishing to donate monetarily to the Butler County Disaster Recovery Coalition can do so by sending their tax deductible dollars to the Butler County Community Foundation at P.O. Box 403, Allison, Iowa 50602. Please make your check payable to Butler County Disaster Relief Fund. Contributions will be used for direct assistance to disaster victims in Butler County, now, and in the future. Please call (319) 267-2858 for more information.