March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Flood of help, humanity

The television news photos of people living in tent towns or being evacuated in the backs of militaty trucks will never look the same. With a sister, a sister-in-law and three nephews who lived in Grand Forks, N.D., the word refugee has taken on personal meaning.

To flee for your life with the clothes on your back is not something one imagines happening in a peaceful prairie town where chaos usually is limited to getting out of the parking lot at a University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux hockey game.

But, as the world knows, the Flood of 1997 changed all that. Eighteen years ago, Grand Forks survived another “Flood of the Century.” I lived there then. Grand Forks was where I went to college, met my husband, got married, and started my first job as a newspaper reporter at the Grand Forks Herald. Now, some of the friends I made there are putting out a newspaper in an elementary school 40 miles away, printing it in St. Paul, Minn., sending the papers back to Grand Forks on chartered planes, and giving them away. That’s the kind of spirit that flood waters can’t quench and fire can’t consume.

It’s the kind of spirit that I’m not at all surprised to see in story after story about the flood. To my mind, stoic Scandinavians have a lot in common with stiff-upper-lip Yankees. There’s the pride, the unwilligness to give up or give in, the stubborn self-control. You wouldn’t catch them weeping for the television cameras or throwing themselves into President Clinton’s arms. The chins are high, the sense of humor and priorities intact.

Still, there’s a lot to test the resolve. Hard days, weeks and months lie ahead. The feisty mayor vows to rebuild, and the governor says it will take all of America to help. It’s not just a nice turn of phrase. Grand Fords needs all the help it can get, not just from government but from us.

Like Maine, North Dakota is mostly rural, with only half a million people spead over a vast area. It’s not a rich place, but the spirit of the people is the real treasure.

It’s the kind of place where people are open and friendly, almost to a fault. People trust people. They believe them to be decent, like them. Most are. If you check out the North Dakota newspaper sites on the Internet, you will see offer after offer to take in families, children, pets, lend cars, babysit, provide food, share a home. People post their e-mail addresses, give their telephone numbers, and use their real full names. There is a neighborliness that doesn’t exist everywhere.

I think of that expansive neighborliness as I look at the brown water and charred buildings in Grand Forks. I remember what the city was — green parks and towering cottonwood trees, tended homes and tidy yards. I marvel at a city whose people poured thier hearts into a heroic collective battle rather than selfish individual skirmishes, a city that will need all our help to rise again. Cheryl Olson is a resident of Hermon and a native of North Dakota.

How you can help the North Dakota flood victims

To donate money or supplies: 1-800-SAL-ARMY

To donate by check or credit card to the Red Cross: 1-800-HELP-NOW

(For both of the above, specify Grand Forks, N..D., flood relief.)

To contribute to an effort by “Hurricane” Dick Hammond to Waterville to deliver a truckload of Poland Spring water to flood victims, call 873-5555 or mail to Maine Veterans Center, 23 College Ave., Waterville 04901.

To share messages of encouragement via the Internet, connect to the Grand Forks Herald bulletin board at www.gfherald.com


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