GALENA STRONG!

 I feel like Galena could be used as the Army commercial for demonstrating how strong people can be. But instead of saying Army Strong we can say GALENA STRONG!We could say "You don't have to be all muscles and able to do 100 push ups in a minute, you just have to be from Galena and care about your home and community! When everything works against you, you join together with other Galena members and work together and get it done. We are Galena! We are GALENA STRONG!!" Doesn't that sound like a commercial? But it is so true! And instead of a soldier in his prettiest uniform we could have a person from Galena with their filthy clothes, scruffy beards, and with their mosquito jacket.

 When we evacuated I must tell you honestly I was kind of doubtful of returning to Galena before next spring. I just could not see how a Whole community could be rebuilt in a few months before winter sets in again. I let my worldly view cloud my eyes. I let the impossibility of the work load to cloud my judgement of peoples will power.  God has a bigger plan for our small town because the people in Galena are getting it DONE! I have felt guilty many times of not being able to go help our town but as Keith said " You are helping! You are doing your job. You are being mommy to my kids so I don't have to worry about them, while I work!"  So since I am here in Puerto Rico waiting to return home, I will post pictures and tell you what the amazing people of Galena and many volunteers from around the states are doing to rebuild my town. There are single parents who have sent their kids to grandparents houses while they clean out their ruined homes. There are dads there that are separated from their families for an indefinite time till they get cleaned up. There are people that went from house to house when the water retreated, and they pulled all the wet insulation out from homes to prevent molding. They cleaned out freezers of (I think the number) 17,000 tons of meat  that was rotting with no electricity. People are rebuilding roads that were washed away. People are gutting homes to make way for new wood to rebuild. People have gone from house to house getting snow machines, cars, four wheelers and any other equipment working again. Friends have walked the forest behind homes searching for your years supply of split wood and hauling it back by sled. People have opened their homes for their neighbors to take showers and use the bathroom, when most houses lost that capability. The people have power washed EVERYTHING they own. People have thrown away memories that were damaged by water and keep moving on because if they stop to think about it, they will cry. They have worked 24 hours a day till they are exhausted, go take a nap and do it all over again the next day. They have combated BAD BAD Mosquitoes! They are determined! They are driven. They are my friends and neighbors..... They are GALENA STRONG!

Here are some pictures of my town being put back on it's feet!(I didn't take any of these, Other people have posted these)

 Clinic with all the cabinets torn out

Clinic walls being cut out to not allow mold to grow

 

Some things have not drained yet because culverts are not put under the road. So these become pools for growing mosquitoes.
This is the baseball field still under water

This house is still an island

 Our friends green house and garden are still under water. This year our gardens have taken the back burner. I was really hoping to make some salsa and jellies but I guess this is NOT the year for it!

 OK this was not taken by me and I don't know where it was taken but it was in Alaska. Galena has it this bad!!This is not a fun job! I will never complain about mosquitoes again!

 Helicopters flown in to carry out the 17,000 tons of rotten meat. The road to the dump was still broken so to not attract bears to town, they flew it to the dump.

 Can not imagine the terrible smell. And that was the hottest week on record for Galena!

 Trying to build the road to the dump which got washed into the river

 This is the Pool after the flood. The pool is located right next to the sewer tanks that were flooded by water. So all that yucky water flowed into the pool! I really thought they would just shut it down and let it go. That is nasty right there!

 

 But these people have worked on it really hard!

 Look at that shiny new pool!!

 Because the dump road is broken, people have piled the wet insulation and stuff in front of their house waiting to be picked up!

 

 Not sure why these boats are here but they are not normally here/

 Our house had minimum damage but we did loose all our wood!

 

 And all the stuff in our shed

 Keith drying out stuff and throwing away most

 And Keith's lovely garden is no more, the flower beds floated away, so did all the soil bags.

 The garden in front of this house is completely gone!

 Houses falling off the pilings!

 Junk and trash everywhere

 This house is NOT normally this close to the road!

This was our church during the flood. It got about an inch of water inside. 

But Chris and other guys in the church got right on that. They ripped out carpet and the insulation.

  Insulation being taken out from under our church!

 Our church has turned into an outreach, rebuilding, volunteer housing, and a command post for helping community. It makes me smile to see that so many things are happening out of a very small church! God has some big plans for our church and he is using the flood for his glory!

 Chris and some guys checking out the map of Galena. Can I say I love how this picture looks! It looks like our problems are nailed to the cross and are covered by Jesus!

 There is so much more left in Galena to do. If you want to help then let me know or go to the website below The donations will be used to help people in Galena rebuild. And my dear friends always remember WE ARE GALENA STRONG!!!!

To donate, visit www.akmissionconnection.org/galena-relief.
If you would like to contribute in ways that are not monetary, volunteer your services and send your ideas to galenarebuilders@gmail.com