St. Ambrose, Augustana house MidAmerican workers

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By David Heitz | Friday, July 25, 2008 11:29 PM CDT | () comments

Two Quad-City colleges dedicated to energizing students’ minds have pitched in to give an army of MidAmerican Energy workers a place to stay as they work tirelessly to restore power to thousands of people in the Quad-Cities.

St. Ambrose University in Davenport and Augustana College in Rock Island agreed Friday to open their dormitories to a combined 650 MidAmerican workers who have been spending nights in hotels as far away as Dubuque. Quad-City hotels are full because of reservations made for today’s Quad-City Times Bix 7, the RAGBRAI finish in LeClaire and a national softball tournament in Moline featuring 120 teams.

“We’ve made use of all the available rooms immediately in the Quad-Cities, but it just has not been enough,” said MidAmerican spokesman Mark Reinders. “It’s just a gigantic restoration effort.”

As of 10 p.m., Friday, 7,184 energy customers in the Illinois Quad-Cities remained without power. Reinders said 1,400 frontline workers have arrived in the Quad-Cities to get the juice back on.

Heather Venema, Bechtel Hall and townhouse director for St. Ambrose, said the university has made enough housing available to accommodate 150 MidAmerican workers free of charge.

“It’s our civic duty,’’ she said. “For us, the decision to do this goes back to the fact that we were closed Monday with no electricity, and we certainly sympathize with those who still don’t.

“We want to do everything we can until power is restored.”

She said the workers and MidAmerican officials have been happy with their accommodations. The workers are staying in two-person suites joined by a bathroom, Venema said.

At Augustana College, 500 workers will be staying at Erickson Hall, filling the entire dormitory. College spokesman Doug Tschopp said Augustana is charging MidAmerican a nominal fee to cover expenses.

Reinders said the company appreciates everything St. Ambrose and Augustana have done to accommodate their workers.

“Those two institutions, as well as hotels, restaurants, hardware stores and everyone who helped us get the equipment we need to keep crews functioning … as well as great cooperation from city officials, communities and fire departments … the community has certainly stepped up.”

David Heitz can be contacted at (563) 383-2202 or dheitz@qctimes.com.