[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 82 (Thursday, June 12, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5632-S5633]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNITION OF RENEE PARKER AND THE RAPID CITY UNITED WAY'S ASSISTANCE 
                       DURING THE FLOODS OF 1997

 Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I want to take this opportunity 
today to recognize the important work of Renee

[[Page S5633]]

Parker and the Rapid City United Way in ongoing flood recovery efforts 
in the Dakotas.
  Early this year, residents of Minnesota, North Dakota and South 
Dakota experienced relentless snowstorms and bitterly cold 
temperatures. Snowdrifts as high as buildings, roads with only one lane 
cleared, homes without heat for days, hundreds of thousands of dead 
livestock, and schools closed for a week at a time were commonplace. As 
if surviving the severe winter cold was not challenge enough, residents 
of the upper Midwest could hardly imagine the extent of damage Mother 
Nature had yet to inflict with a 500-year flood. Record levels on the 
Big Sioux River and Lake Kampeska forced over 5,000 residents of 
Watertown, S.D. to evacuate their homes and left over one-third of the 
city without sewer and water for 3 weeks. The city of Bruce, S.D. was 
completely underwater when record low temperatures turned swollen 
streams into sheets of ice.
  The 50,000 residents of Grand Forks, N.D. and 10,000 residents of 
East Grand Forks, MN were forced to leave their homes and businesses as 
the Red River overwhelmed their cities in April. The devastation was 
astounding; an entire city underwater and a fire that gutted a majority 
of Grand Forks' downtown. Residents of both cities recently were 
allowed to return to what is left of their homes, and the long and 
difficult process of rebuilding shattered lives is just beginning.
  Renee Parker organized a United Way Jeans Day promotion that 
continues to amass monetary funds for flood victims. Many families 
escaped rising flood waters in the dead of night, often with only the 
clothes on their back, and ultimately lost everything in their homes. I 
am pleased to say the Jeans Day promotion has collected over $6,350 to 
help buy goods for these families. Renne Parker has also been 
instrumental in organizing the Jeans Day promotion for flood victims on 
a national basis.
  While those of us from the Midwest will never forget the destruction 
wrought by this year's floods, I have been heartened to witness 
firsthand and hear accounts of South Dakotans coming together within 
their community to protect homes, farms, and entire towns from rising 
flood waters. The selfless actions of people like Renne Parker and 
organizations like the Rapid City United Way illustrate the resolve 
within South Dakotans to help our neighbors in times of trouble.
  Mr. President, there is much more to be done to rebuild and repair 
Grand Forks and other impacted communities. Renee Parker and the Rapid 
City United Way illustrate how individuals can bring some relief to the 
victims of this natural disaster, and I ask you to join me in thanking 
them for their selfless efforts.

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