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Unsinkable spirit: Friends, neighbors key in rebuilding

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By Tory Brecht | Friday, August 22, 2008 |

Six weeks after torrential rain sent a wall of mud crashing through her basement wall, things are slowly returning to normal for Davenport resident Cynthia Westerfield.

Long hours of volunteer efforts by family and friends — not to mention generous donations of time, money and tools — have helped rebuild the foundation wall on her Kirkwood Boulevard home. The walls and floors have been sanitized with bleach, new plumbing and electric lines supply water and power to a new washer, dryer and water heater and the gaping hole in the backyard has been filled in with dirt.

“It’s not done, but we’re getting there,” a thankful Westerfield said last week.

A tent was set up over the weekend in her front yard to accommodate a party held to thank volunteers who helped the rebuilding effort and to watch Bix festivities along Kirkwood.

Westerfield has subsequently received some financial assistance from FEMA, but the majority of clean-up and reconstruction was done with no governmental help at all.

“My friends, my relatives, my neighbors — before I had any money coming in -they just started working and cleaning things up and giving out of their own pockets,” Westerfield said.“It was just wonderful. It’s really uplifting.“

Candice Cooper, Westerfield’s daughter, wanted to especially point out the efforts of Westerfield’s brother,Gary Terry and across-the-street neighbor Curtis Lewis.

“They have literally been here every day since June 12, no matter what else they had going on,” Cooper said.

Seeing her mother in distress was disconcerting, Cooper added.

“This is is the first time I’ve seen mom so vulnerable,” she said. “She was always the one that kept us up. You just want to go and help her and help fix it.“

Westerfield’s generous Quad-City neighbors will come to her aid yet again through the Unsinkable Spirit Flood Relief Fund, which was created to help area residents affected by the unprecedented 2008 flooding with costs not covered by insurance, state or federal assistance. Sponsors of the fund are the Quad-City Times, United Way of the Quad-Cities Area, the Quad-City Times Bix 7 and the Quad-Cities River Bandits.

Money from that fund will be used to help Westerfield — and many other Quad-Citians — with the final pieces that she needs to get back to the life she had before the devastating flash floods on June 12.

Tory Brecht can be contacted at (563) 383-2329 or tbrecht@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.