PRESS RELEASE
The Salvation Army Continues Fight Against Fargo Flood
March 23, 2009 – The Salvation Army continues to provide food, hydration, and emotional/spiritual care to residents of the Fargo/Moorhead area as they struggle to defend their community against looming flood waters that could cause mass devastation. (Click here for photos.)
Since Friday, 53 Salvation Army staff and volunteers have served 5,750 meals, 9,500 snacks and 13,000 drinks to thousands of volunteers as they fill sand bags and build levees to ward off a Red River flood expected to crest at 40 feet – 22 feet above flood stage, and nearly a foot higher than the historic Fargo flood of 1997.
Mobile feeding units (canteens) deployed from Bismarck, Brainerd, Fergus Falls, the Twin Cities and Willmar are roving neighborhood streets. Another canteen is fixed at Fargo’s garbage utility – or “Sandbag Central” – where legions of volunteers are filling an estimated 25,000 sandbags per hour.
The Salvation Army and the American Red Cross are working in collaboration to meet the demands of the community.
“The Salvation Army’s operation is vital to supporting the efforts of saving our community,” said Captain Adam Moore, administrator of the Fargo Salvation Army. “The propensity for great property loss is more and more evident with each foot the river rises. There is also great concern for the emotional and spiritual needs of the community, as this is one of several 100-year floods we’ve faced in recent years.”
To date, The Salvation Army has spent more than $20,000 on this effort. To donate, call 800-SAL-ARMY or click the button below.
