Lions Club creates new relief distribution center

COOK- Cook fire engines have been parked on city streets the past two weeks as the Cook Fire Hall became the center for flood relief operations, but the trucks will be back in their bays after the Cook Lions Club opened a new location for supplies and equipment on Monday in the former Franks Pharmacy building on River. St.
“I had heard that Franks was not going to come back to this building, because they were planning to open in their new location in late July or early August,” said Lions Club President Steve Kajala. “I said, ‘Hey, would you be interested in letting us use the building.’ We chatted about it, they slept on it, and we came to terms on a month-to- month lease with a very, very reasonable rate.”
Volunteers spent last week taking care of the extensive damage inside the building, which was inundated with four feet of water at the height of the flood. Kajala called the half-dozen volunteers who showed up to help “miracle workers” as they carted out ruined shelves, ripped up carpet, disinfected the building and deployed fans and dehumidifiers to dry things out so that they could occupy the building.
Along with being a location for the free cleaning supplies and loaner shop vacs, power washers, and dehumidifiers the club has purchased with donated funds, the site will be a place where those affected by the flood will be able to get donated household items, Kajala said.
“We’ve had a lot of people offer stuff, and I’ve asked them to please hold off until we give an all-call,” Kajala said. “We’ll have chairs, couches, tables, working appliances, anything that people drop off.”
All the items will be free to those in need. Kajala noted that they would not accept mattresses, however.
Financial donations continue to pour into the club’s account at North Star Credit Union, and Kajala has reached out to Lions Club International with its worldwide experience in disaster relief for guidelines on how to responsibly and equitably use the donations. The international organization donated $10,000 to aid in Cook’s recovery.
“We don’t write a check to somebody, but we will help them with the things they need,” Kajala said.
The flood has also given rise among Lions Club members as to what they might do locally to help the fire department. Kajala said they will be working with Shane Johnson to evaluate what the department needs to augment their disaster response equipment and will consider how to provide additional funding to get it.
“We are going to take a serious look at that when the dust has settled,” Kajala said. “Hopefully we’ll never have a flood this bad again, but it could happen tomorrow. We want to come out of this as a stronger community, stronger and more prepared.”