Township College Student Volunteers For Flood Relief

Megan Lage of Morris Township was one of a group of Misericordia University students who volunteered in September to help a devastated riverside community recover from a historic flood. The University provided the following account of their efforts:

When the students descended upon Myo Beach, PA, on an unusually cold and muggy Saturday morning days into the fall semester, they had no idea what to expect. They had heard and seen pictures of the untold devastation this quaint, riverside community experienced when the swollen Susquehanna River left its natural banks due to the one-two punch of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.

More than 30 miles from campus, the remnants of this idyllic community were scattered into disarray. Homes were torn from their foundations; park benches and toys were clinging to tree branches; and mud-caked automobiles sat motionless — perhaps for good.   

Randy Stark, an adjunct professor in the Department of Business at Misericordia, grew up in the close-knit community of Meshoppen, PA. His parents, Rick and Holly Stark, were one of the dozens of families that had many, if not all, of their worldly possessions destroyed. “These houses were completely underwater,” said Stark. “I didn’t even know where to begin.”

Stark contacted Misericordia’s Campus Ministry department with the hope that they could organize a group of students interested in helping the displaced Myo Beach residents. Many of the residents were elderly and physically incapable of shoveling through debris in search of personal belongings or moving heavy timber, telephone poles and piles of mud away from their properties.

Student volunteers carried heavy appliances out of the homes, moved large branches and debris towards a rapidly growing bon fire and shoveled rubbish aside to salvage personal effects. Students occasionally consoled distraught residents as they stood by and helplessly watched as their material lives were thrown onto the flames. 

Flooding affected countless residents in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The Susquehanna and Lackawanna rivers and scores of tributaries left their banks and caused untold millions of dollars in damages. Misericordia volunteers will remain vigilant during the recovery process and will work side-by-side as victims of the flood work to reclaim their lives, homes and livelihoods.