Mid-Missourians to deliver disaster relief to farmers affected by flooding

This Wednesday, March 20, 2019 photo provided by the Missouri State Highway Patrol shows Water Patrol Troopers assisting utility company employees in shutting off natural gas lines in flood waters at Craig, Mo. In northwest Missouri, a levee breached Tuesday, March 19, unleashed a torrent that overwhelmed a temporary berm that was built up with excavators and sandbags to protect the small town of Craig, where the 220 residents were ordered to evacuate. "They've got water running down Main Street," said Tom Bullock, emergency management director of Holt County, where Craig is located.
This Wednesday, March 20, 2019 photo provided by the Missouri State Highway Patrol shows Water Patrol Troopers assisting utility company employees in shutting off natural gas lines in flood waters at Craig, Mo. In northwest Missouri, a levee breached Tuesday, March 19, unleashed a torrent that overwhelmed a temporary berm that was built up with excavators and sandbags to protect the small town of Craig, where the 220 residents were ordered to evacuate. "They've got water running down Main Street," said Tom Bullock, emergency management director of Holt County, where Craig is located.

A Mid-Missouri group that has for each of the past two years conducted fire relief drives for farmers in neighboring states will again this week collect items for farmers who are victims of a disaster.

The group - headed by Chance Sommerer, who is recovering from injuries suffered in a traffic collision - is collecting products for farmers in northwestern Missouri and parts of Nebraska who were most affected by flooding this winter and spring.

In the most recent effort spearheaded by Jason Propst, the group hopes to fill a tractor-trailer Saturday with products farmers may need and deliver them to people affected in Craig, Missouri, and to farmers across the Missouri River in Nebraska.

"We're stopping in Craig first," Propst said. "I've talked to the mayor (of Craig). The whole town was wiped out."

After that, the volunteers intend to take their truck up to Columbus, Nebraska, which is west of Lincoln, on the Platte River.

"That's where the farmers' supplies would mostly end up," Propst said. "We would do something like an 'adopt-a-farmer' (event) and find the farmers who can use the supplies the most."

The idea, he said, is to give the items directly to the people whom the flood affected the most.

Sommerer started the annual campaign two years ago, when he and family members collected enough products to fill some 30 trucks and take them to wildfire-ravaged parts of Kansas. Last year, the same group collected farm supplies and delivered them to parts of the Oklahoma Panhandle, Propst said.

Although the most recent disaster is different, the result was the same for people in Nebraska as it was for people in Kansas and Oklahoma, he said: people lost their entire homes.

"Delivering products to those families (in Kansas and Oklahoma) was a humbling experience," he said.

The group will collect the donated items 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot at the Lowe's Home Improvement store, 3441 Missouri Blvd. in Jefferson City.

Cleaning supplies are in demand. Organizers would like to receive buckets, paper towels, toilet paper, dish soap, bleach, disinfectant pre-moistened wipes, disinfectant spray, miscellaneous cleaners, glass cleaner, hand sanitizer, baking soda, rags, scrub brushes, mops, brooms, dust pans, sponges, spray bottles, toilet bowl brushes, toilet bowl cleaner, air freshener, mold control spray, gloves (for work, cleaning or chemical use), trash cans and moving boxes.

Some farming supplies the group would accept are steel fence posts (T-post), post drivers, post hole diggers, end posts, barbed wire, wire ties, concrete bags, punch bars (tool), cow panels, cattle waterers, rope, chain, gates, shovels, work gloves, salt blocks, hay, grain, and cat or dog food.

Any other supplies would be appreciated.

Donations will be accepted in the form of a check made out to Immanuel Lutheran Disaster Fund and mailed to Immanuel Lutheran Church, 8231 Tanner Bridge Road, Jefferson City, MO 65109, with a note on the check that the funds are for "Nebraska relief."

Organizers hope to deliver the supplies during the first week of May.