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In June of 2011, the Souris River reached record levels, flooding communities across 30 miles of North Western North Dakota. In the town of Minot, with a population approaching 44,000 residents, over 12,000 were evacuated at the time of the flooding. The river flooded a quarter of the city, devastating 4,815 homes, churches, schools, and businesses.
Following the flood, Minot experienced a critical and uncharacteristically low number of volunteer teams from state, regional and national organizations who were willing to travel to Minot for flood assistance. The consistently cited reason for choosing to bypass Minot was the lack of adequate accommodations for volunteer housing. The end result is that area families with critical need are not served.
In order to increase the number of volunteers coming to help people, and to maximize the effectiveness of volunteers and volunteer agencies, a unified volunteer center has been established, called Hope Village. Through this partnership, approximately $3.2 million dollars of volunteer labor will be provided to the city of Minot in the summer of 2012. By May, Minot’s restoration will begin with full force and the volunteer agencies serving the people of this great city will be ready to provide their very best to those with need.
