“Where is that ‘love’ button on Facebook????”

This and other similar sentiments are being broadcasted
through the social networks as folks of all ages in Lander are dropping
everything to help their friends and loved ones protect their homes from the
still-rising Popo Agie River.

Since Saturday morning, I have watched in awe as the river
running through our valley has swollen steadily, going down during the day only
to rise to historic levels overnight. But almost as awesome as the will of
Mother Nature has been the way NOLSies in town have descended upon peoples’
homes in droves to help each other and the community. As grim as the situation
has been, it seems the “NOLSiness” in us shines during dire straits. Yesterday,
about 40 NOLSies rushed to help one of our directors protect her home for the third
day in a row. Wading deep in the muck and mud, firelines of sandbaggers boosted
up the berm surrounding the property. I got the warm fuzzies as a youngster of
about 12 hoisted sandbags a third his weight and stubbornly refuse to take a
break because he wanted to help.

From there we went on to our friend Heather’s house, where a
creek about 30 feet away had risen to almost kiss her back deck on Friday night
(by the way, Heather had left her own threatened home earlier in the day to
help at another property). After a few calls and a Facebook message, another 15
people showed up within minutes to protect Heather’s home from the creek.

But the most poignant moment of the night, the moment that
made me decide “I HAVE to blog about this,” was later in the day. It was a warm
balmy evening, and almost the entire town appeared to be walking down to City
Park. There, a number of onlookers were taking pictures of the water lapping up
onto the back deck of a home that bordered the river, a home in which a sweet
elderly woman lives alone. Trees (and eventually an entire cabin – Shelli’s
cabin) floated by, and the river continued to rise as about 10 people struggled
to build up the sandbag wall.

After a few minutes, we realized we were being useless
rubberneckers, and a group of NOLSies walked up to help. Within an hour there
were about 40 people working tirelessly to fight the river. What began as chaos
quickly transformed into a finely tuned Swiss train – with people taking the
lead to build firelines and reinforce weaker portions of the wall. Truckload
after truckload of sandbags miraculously appeared, and the once short wall quickly
transformed into a fortress. I left at about 10 PM (when my toddler, who was on
this third late night of “Floodwatch 2010,” had a meltdown), but apparently
folks were working around the clock.

Today is the fourth day of history in the making in our
little town, but the enthusiasm to help has not waned. Many (including my
supervisors) are off to help bag sand as I write this. And I’m just sitting
here, thinking “Where the heck is that ‘love’ button????

p.s. NOLS has not been affected. Courses are running and
students are ok. NOLS HQ, the RM, and the Noble Hotel have not been damaged.