Sitting in a circle in the living room of Albert Lea Salvation Army Capts. Jim and Lee Bricksons’ home last week, the local Salvation Army disaster relief team reflected on their experiences serving the week before in the flood-ravaged Cedar Rapids, Iowa, area.

Just a few days after they returned from providing relief in Austin after the floods, the team was routed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and to the small town of Palo, Iowa, on the weekend of June 15 to begin providing hydration, feeding, spiritual and emotional care to people in need.

The team, which consisted of Capt. Jim Brickson, Stan Scheib, Kim Behrens, Kari Scheib and Tony Chavez, were responsible for completing assigned tasks which they say exceeded previous predictions. They stayed for about a week, with their typical day starting at 6 a.m. and going until as late as 11 p.m.

Brickson and Stan Scheib were in charge of operations, which included figuring out how many meals to order. They also worked at organizational efforts, as things were chaotic when they first arrived.

According to Brickson, while the team was there, they served 23,909 individuals, including 58,255 drinks and 21,157 meals.

Behrens and Kari Scheib were mostly providing meals and hydration.

In Palo, near the fixed meal site, they set up two tents, which quickly became a meeting place for the community, where people could come for a cup of coffee and talk about what they went through with their homes.

Because it was such a small community, Behrens and Scheib were able to get to know the people.

“We felt appreciated there,” Behrens said.

The group said they didn’t realize how much their service meant until they had people coming up to them out of nowhere saying thank you, Stan said.

“When we left we were very emotional,” Kari said. “We had made connections with these people.”

When they left, piles of debris and water-damaged furniture lined the sides of the streets as high as 7 feet tall and 7 feet wide. And this was only the beginning of the cleanup efforts.

The people will be working at the cleanup efforts for a long time, Stan said. People are still working in the Rushford area to clean up — almost a year after the floods there.

Brickson estimated that it will be two more weeks before Palo gets electricity.

As the Albert Lea team adjusts to life back in the real world, they are working to get much needed rest as they prepare for their next assignment. They said their trip was very mentally draining.

Brickson said they have plans to return to the Cedar Rapids area in the near future for additional assignments.

They will probably take a truckload of supplies back, Brickson said. And they are also working to raise the funds to purchase the $7,000 ATV that was loaned to them.

They are looking for donations of cleaning supplies, garbage bags, bleach, gloves, hand sanitizer and nonperishable foods.

Brickson is also hoping that more local residents will be able to be trained so that Albert Lea could have a team of up to 20 trained people in case of further disasters.

He said the Salvation Army has already spent $1.3 million providing assistance to flood-ravaged cities in Iowa, he said. And they are looking for $12 million for Iowa City and Cedar Rapids.

If interested in donating to any part of the cause, contact 373-5710.