Last Monday’s derecho devastated the Cedar Rapids community, causing many residents to lose power, their groceries, and some have lost their homes, and one local pastor knew he had to jump into action. Ainsworth and Crawfordsville Pastor Jason Collier heard about the widespread damage and immediately took a group to aid in clean up efforts in Cedar Rapids last Tuesday. What he witnessed was what he described as catastrophic, Collier explains, “We all know there’s a rental crisis. There’s no place to rent in our area at all. These folks, a lot of them who were living in low income apartments, things of that nature, their apartments are uninhabitable. They’re living in tents in their backyard right now. No power, nowhere to go, nothing to do. It’s just catastrophic. Semis blown over. On Tuesday, there was no power in the area, literally we drove over hundreds of power lines on the ground. I’m thankful my navigation has been working because there’s barely any street signs, stop signs are down, none of the stop lights work. It’s just unbelievable.” Collier has brought multiple volunteers to and from the Cedar Rapids area since last Tuesday to continue to clean up debris, downed trees, and remnants of houses. The local group also passes out  water, gas cards, and food to those affected by Monday’s storm.

In a phone interview with KCII from Cedar Rapids, Collier explains why the group decided to help those in need, “As soon as you get here you realize really how bad it is. You picture your grandma and grandpa living in a house. No power, maybe their front door is blocked, maybe their driveway is blocked, their cell phones aren’t working. How do people communicate and get out? And if it’s not for their neighbors calling friends and folks to help, then they don’t get out. We’re just working together to try to help as many folks as we can. Just loving people and reminding them that God loves them and they are not alone. You can’t believe how that changes people’s hearts up here. Because you sit in the dark for six days or seven days now and when somebody shows up and says they love you and they put their word to work, it means something.” 

Collier says anyone from Washington County looking to aid in clean up efforts can contact him for more information on groups who need more volunteers. He says he hopes to  continue to help for as long as he can, help smaller communities recover, and show his love through his actions.