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Celebration for LALTRC, Unmet Needs Success
The sun is shining on Overlook Pavilion, birds are singing in the trees, and the smell of barbecue drifts along with the wind, carrying the sound of laughter with it. It's July 16th, and the Linn County Long Term Recovery Coalition (LALTRC) is celebrating their first year of service to the people of Linn County at Ellis Park, Cedar Rapids. The event also coincided with a milestone for Unmet Needs, one organization within the LALTRC, who has given away one million dollars worth of goods and vouchers to flood victims to help them rebuild their homes.
Nearly eighty people attended the barbecue, according to Tony Gauss, the head coordinator of the LALTRC celebration and chief scheduling officer for Unmet Needs. While the reason for the barbecue was to celebrate successes in the recovery effort, Gauss admitted that it was “more of a chance for everyone to get to know one another.”
“There are four or five different organizations in LALTRC,” says Gauss, “from AmeriCorps VISTAs who are in and out all the time to the Case Advocates all in the front. Nobody really gets a chance to meet anyone.”
Ashley Hawkins, an AmeriCorps VISTA team leader, agreed. While there were an overwhelming number of VISTA members there, it was “exciting to see all the VISTAs hanging out with everybody, mingling with non-VISTAs.”
Gauss was grateful to those attending who made it a grand time, and those who made it possible through donations: The Salvation Army, Hy-Vee, and Cedar Rapids Park and Recreation. Both the Cedar Rapids Fire and Police departments came to give demonstrations, and although there “should have been a clown there,” Gauss said to the chuckle, it was a great time for all.
Fire chief Brian Hall, who was displaced from his station downtown due to the flood showed how his equipment worked and handed out plastic firemen helmets and bags of stickers and crayons, while Officer John McDaniel brought a member of the K-9 unit to meet everyone at the party.
Dave Walton, the warehouse manager for LALTRC, enjoyed his time, but was tied up working the grill. “It was busy, that's for sure. Did eighty burgers and dogs myself.” Walton commented. “Beautiful night, though. Good fellowship, people playing, people talking.”
AmeriCorps VISTA lead Curtis DeVetter agreed with Walton on the good weather and excellent location. With a good view of the Cedar River from Ellis Park's outlook pavilion, DeVetter said that when he first arrived, he thought “this is a good location. A little hard to play frisbee in, but I definitely wanted to roll down the hill.”
Tabby Smith, an AmeriCorps VISTA member who was sick at the time, still got to enjoy the event by proxy. “Unfortunately, I couldn't make it, but from what I hear it was awesome. My cool roommates brought me a fireman's hat and a junior fireman sticker!”
As the night went on, the party died down, but the memory of the event is still fresh in everyone's mind. Walton seemed to speak for everyone when he said, “It'd be nice if we could do it again sometime.”
by Noel Moriarty