The Patriot Post® · Our ‘Volunteer State’

It’s just been fifteen days since 52 counties in “The Volunteer State” were ravaged by record rains and horrible flooding. There were 23 Tennesseans killed. Damage in Davidson County alone has been estimated at $1.5 billion dollars and in adjacent Williamson County it is a good guess at least 1,000 homes were decimated by the fetid flood waters.

So last weekend those same communities were slammed by an even greater force – thousands of volunteers, bound by mankind’s most blessed pledge, “I am here,” streamed from all across the state in perhaps the most splendid outpouring of love most of those affected have ever seen.

Nash Fleet, a student at Tennessee Tech who came home to somehow help his parents, told a newspaper reporter, “I don’t know how to put it in words. I have never seen generosity like this. It is overwhelming … and it is inspirational.”

Hand’s On, a Nashville non-profit agency, had 5,100 eager volunteers signed up last Friday and, on Saturday, the Cross Point Community Church showed up with 1,600 of its members. Those were just but two of many organizations and churches who didn’t just call – they went.

All day Saturday and Sunday huge teams fanned out and – quite literally – scoured the hardest-hit neighborhoods with buckets and mops and gloves and shovels. The Red Cross had over 2,000 volunteers to help with everything from bottled water to electrical and plumbing repair.

Men with backhoes, women with lunches for the volunteers, and children selling lemon-aid so they too could proudly donate embraced a spirit that has been this state’s heritage since joining the Union in 1796. Entire neighborhoods banded together and, then bolstered by grinning visitors, tackled one task after another in staggering fashion.

People brought sheetrock and canned goods, rakes and Lysol, elbows and Ajax. Linda Cato, who has lived in the same house for 33 years, told the Nashville Tennessean, “It makes you want to cry,” she said emotionally as 14 total strangers were cleaning her basement. “You can lose something in a flash, but then you have the most wonderful people showing up like this.”

So as the flood waters have almost receded, the volunteer spirit that gave the state its nickname has actually grown in the way first noticed when an amry led by Sam Houston and Davey Crockett went to help at The Alamo. Oh, my goodness, so infectious is such pride that it spread faster than the flood itself.

For example, the Nissan plant over in Sparta sent the Red Cross a hurried Cashier’s Check for $250,000, another $50,000 to Second Harvest food pantry, and then told its own employees that Nissan would match their contribution to the flood relief dollar-for-dollar.

Believe it or not, the state’s main expenses will not be as horrible as you may suspect. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will pay for 75 percent of the repairs to roads, Nashville’s submerged water treatment plant and all else. The remaining 25 percent of the costs will be split between the state and each of the 52 counties involved.

Gov. Phil Bredesen, mindful the estimated $1.5-billion estimates is for Davidson County alone, said the state is expected to have $450 million in its aptly-named “rainy day fund” and has more than $100 million in self-assurance and flood insurance. “In terms of the state being able to meet the matching requirements we are in very good shape. I can’t think of anything else I need to do to address those issues.”

But many of the homes that were damaged did not have flood insurance. “If somebody doesn’t have flood insurance, none of this stuff (Federal aid) we are talking about – I want to be frank – will make them whole. This is something that will be a personal tragedy to a whole lot of people.”

According to CNN, more than $4 million in emergency funding has already been approved to over 17,000 needy residents who have come forward in Tennessee. Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano visited the region last Saturday, pledging fast response and the government’s eagerness to help.

Sure, there are still problems. In Antioch there is one area with a large number of Hispanic residents and church workers who found one flooded house where its still-terrified residents were still huddled inside. “They didn’t know they could get help,” said Donna Perry-Flores, whose husband is a pastor.

“We got them with the right people, cleaned the house and dragged out the wet stuff, and will follow up with them both spiritually and emotionally.” Is that incredible or what? Neighbors are literally going house-to-house, teams of volunteers were still arriving every hour as the rest of the entire nation is watching in awe.

Russ Hazelton, a Nashville man who endured the flood, told the CNN cameras, “We have no choice but to solve this problem, and we are going to solve it with enthusiasm and try to have fun doing it. We have some hurdles to cross but we’ve already gotten across quite a few. We’ll see what the next few days bring.”

I can give him a hint. A Tennessee Volunteer is world-famed for “whatever it takes.” Last weekend was not the answer but, oh, what a start! People who had never before seen one another hugged and cried and worked side by side, brothers and sisters, black and white, rich and poor.

That is why Nash Fleet, the kid who came home from Tech to help his parents, had to fight to keep from crying himself last weekend as he turned away “at least” four different work parties on Saturday alone who heard his family needed help because the cleaning and repairs at the Fleet’s house had already been done by earlier volunteers.

“It’s just unbelievable,” the college boy said over and over. Better that that, he’ll never forget it, especially if the time ever comes when his future neighbor might need a steady hand to hold.