Thanks for the lessons learned

By Quentin Stanerson

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On Wednesday morning, as I got the kids ready for day care, I had the news of the rising Wapsipinicon River, and the need of sandbaggers in Central City. I decided to drop off the two younger girls and take my son Jack, 6, with me to Central City. He had a dentist appointment in Cedar Rapids and we had planned on hanging out in Cedar Rapids, a little son and dad time together.

I am so glad that we decided to skip the trip to Cedar Rapids.

Jack had many questions on the way to Central City. “What are sandbags, what will the flooding do, do you know these people, why are we going?” etc.

I explained and told him that when people are in trouble you help them out. I reminded him of when our basement flooded and a handful of guys came over to get everything out of the basement. I could see the wheels turning in his head.

As we rolled into town and saw the rising Wapsi, his eyes got big. We headed to the city maintenance shop on 8th and East Maple streets. More than a dozen folks were filling sandbags. The Central City baseball coach and some players. Kids and adults from Alburnett, Central City residents, and I spoke to a man who drove up from Cedar Rapids.

We filled sandbags and loaded them into my truck. We ran sandbags all over town. Kids would jump in the back of my truck and we would be off. Jack was right there with them, taking it all in.

We worked in Central City for a few hours. Then Jack and I were off to Troy Mills. At the fire station, we found 30 people or more filling sandbags. A lot of my former and current students from North Linn were helping out. Parents and community members from all ages were in the mix. The Troy Store had donated water, pop and Gatorade. The Damn Bar donated food, and people cycled in to relieve those filling bags. Nobody called these folks, they just showed up. They knew their community needed their help and they responded. Again, I kept an eye on Jack. I could not have taught him a better lesson in life: people helping people in need, communities coming together, young and old working together for their town.

These small towns and the people who live there are excellent examples for cities across the state and nation to emulate. And the folks of these communities and the people who came in to help taught one 6-year-old boy some important lessons.

On the way home, tired and hot, Jack said he was glad that we helped all of those people. To which I replied, in the words of North Linn super fan Mike Hageman, “That's what we do!”

l Quentin Stanerson of Center Point is the House District 95 state representative. Comments: Quentin.Stanerson@legis.iowa.gov