Flood volunteers celebrated at thank-you celebration

By Christian Hill | The Olympian • Published April 29, 2008

Thousands of volunteers who have given their time freely to help residents in Lewis, Mason and Thurston counties dig out from disaster were honored Tuesday evening.

Roughly 200 people attended the thank-you celebration at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds organized by the Volunteer Center of Lewis, Mason and Thurston counties.

The celebration came during National Volunteer Week.

No one event could encompass all that the volunteers have done since the flooding Dec. 3, but the celebration offered a measure of gratitude for their efforts both past and future, said Dr. Jim Walton, president of Centralia College and the event's emcee.

"It was folks like you who came together and truly made a difference in lifting up our neighbors, who in some cases had lost everything," said first gentleman Mike Gregoire, who attended on behalf of Gov. Chris Gregoire.

First responders

He said the efforts of first responders to rescue people from flooded neighborhoods and farms were "nothing short of heroic."

Four people affected by the flood shared their stories of how volunteers made a difference in their lives.

Marc Conrad said he owed his life to two men — Joby Voetberg, 24, and Mark McHugh, 18.

Around 4:30 a.m. Dec. 4, Conrad was trying to save family memorabilia from the basement of his Centralia home when a berm holding back the rising waters of Plummer Lake burst. A "raging river of water" came down the stairs and knocked him off his feet, separating his right shoulder, he said. His left arm was in a sling from recent elbow surgery and he couldn't regain his feet as water quickly filled the basement.

Voetberg waded in to rescue him with assistance from McHugh. The two men had been helping Conrad move household items to higher ground. "I'm grateful to them for saving my life, because I know they did," he said.

Voetberg said he didn't consider himself a hero.

"I feel we were at the right place at the right time," he said. "Anyone would have done it."

Gary Dorning of Adna recalled how volunteers tore down his flood-damaged rental home in Chehalis and pulled soggy drywall and installation from his own home after he had pulled people from the rising floodwaters in those initial hours.

Dorning said he has volunteered throughout his adult life and found the experience "immensely rewarding."

"When the shoe was on the other foot and I actually felt the community come to me and repay all those hours, it was beyond anything that I've ever felt before," he said.

Ben Hearn, the owner of the Curtis Store, and Phil Medford, manager of Rainbow Falls State Park, also recognized the efforts of volunteers to help them as they work to reopen the century-old store and 139-acre park, which both sustained extensive damage.

Weyerhaeuser sponsored the event with the support of TransAlta. Sara Ballard, the volunteer center's executive director, said it will take between two and three years to finish the clean-up.

"Tonight is only a pause in the action, and there's much more work to do," she said.