Volunteers Turn Flood 'Junk' into Treasure

There's a new purpose for flood destroyed homes in Elkader.

That's helping low-income families get a fresh start.

The flood of 2008 destroyed about a dozen home along the south end of Main Street in Elkader.

Now volunteers are taking those homes apart, piece by piece. Those pieces will end up in new Habitat for Humanity Homes.

These homes along the Turkey River in Elkader once held the treasures of loving families.

Brett Eaton said, "We lived there for 24 years. Kids grew up there. It's kind of hard to see it go, but you've gotta move on. "

And while those families are moving on, so are the parts of their homes they couldn't take with them.

Green Iowa's Ashley Wolter said, "We found a claw bath tub. We are getting a lot of the old light fixtures and door knobs, the baseboards and a ton of old banisters."

Volunteers from Green Iowa Americorps are ripping and tearing and stripping those historic items out of the flood destroyed homes.

Wolter said, "we are going to try and save all that and have it go to a habitat re-store which is where they can go and buy really low price materials to go into the new habitat houses. "

Eaton said, "I'd rather see somebody else get some use out of it, instead of just tearing it down. "

And the volunteers unconvered the stories of generations past.

Wolter said, " We found post cards from 1916 in a wall of the house we did yesterday. "

What was once one family's treasure, turned to junk.

Now has potential to once again become a different familiy's treasure.