Spring Break in Cedar Rapids

During spring break, 52 members of the Burroughs community and friends set out by bus to spend three days helping Cedar Rapids recover from the extensive flooding and resulting devastation that town suffered last June. The eight-foot high body of water that surged through the downtown business district and through many residential neighborhoods left many homeless and/or without a place to work. 

Under the guidance of the East Central Iowa Volunteer Center and the City of Cedar Rapids, the Burroughs crew helped the city take its first steps toward the restoration of the buildings and grounds of Ushers Ferry, a local historical site and park that was in dire need of cleanup and restoration. This site, which includes more than 35 buildings authentically maintained and furnished with relics and antiques as well as a lovely gazebo in the center of the town, hosts many student groups and local celebrations. Its restoration was symbolic to many people in town – evidence that the community was going to pull through the tragedy.

Burroughs students gutted buildings and removed the contents, salvaging the few items that could be salvaged and breaking up the rest and hauling it to the dumpster; retrieved and hauled debris that had gotten jammed in the trees along the edge of the river; raked leaves and hauled them and other debris from yards and the town square; pulled up muddy, weed-ridden brick pathways for later restoration; pulled weeds from other walkways; photographed and catalogued several recovered relics; and scraped paint from the gazebo. 

The town of Cedar Rapids expressed its appreciation in a note to the students, “We cannot properly say how deeply grateful we are for the three days of remarkably hard work you put in here at Ushers Ferry. Your work has put us weeks ahead of where we would be without you.”