Three groups of men. Different entities. Same purpose.

As local volunteers begin to recall their experiences assisting with flood-relief efforts in the Fargo-Moorhead area, they’re already getting ready to pack their bags and go back.

The Red River is expected to crest again in the coming weeks, and local volunteers said they are ready to give up more of their time to lend a helping hand.

“You got to help your neighbors,” said one volunteer, Gordon Lewis with the Freeborn County American Red Cross. “That’s the way it used to be in the old days, and that’s the way it needs to be now.”

On March 23 and 24, volunteers with the local American Red Cross, the Albert Lea Salvation Army and the Albert Lea Fire Department traveled to the Fargo-Moorhead area to volunteer their time doing various duties, ranging from sandbagging and providing shelter to giving meals and pastoral care. Some stayed for a few days, while others stayed for more than a week.

Though the volunteers did not travel together or serve in the same areas, they had many of the same experiences.

Freeborn County American Red Cross

Lewis, who was the only Red Cross volunteer from Freeborn County, said he went up to Fargo on March 24 and was there for nine days.

His job was sheltering, and while he was there he helped open up two shelters, he said.

Lewis, who has been volunteering for the American Red Cross since about 2005, has assisted in disasters in Iowa, Florida and Texas, to name a few of the areas.

He said one day in March when he was in Fargo he went to the Fargodome, where people were hauling the sand.

“I’ve never seen an operation like that in my life,” he said. “It was astronomical. You could feel the hairs on your arm stand up.”

In one of the shelters he volunteered in, there were 170 firemen and some Department of Natural Resources workers. In addition, there were about 100 clients from the flooded area itself, he said.

People were thankful for the volunteers and would shake their hands in gratitude, he said.

He noted he’s always on call in case Fargo-Moorhead leaders express a need for more help.

“I go because I need to go,” Lewis said. “I think we should pay back for what we’ve taken in life. God’s got me where he wants me right now, and that’s helping other people.”

He said he was amazed at how well all of the volunteers worked together.

Albert Lea Salvation Army

Albert Lean Stan Scheib was among the first team from the local Salvation Army that left March 24 to provide assistance where needed.

Scheib said his team provided food, pastoral care and assistance where needed.

There were six canteens running 24 hours a day plus four vans in operation.

The first week he was there, the Salvation Army offered cold food like sandwiches and drinks, and after that they started with hot food, he said.

They were feeding about 4,000 meals alone out of the Albert Lea canteen alone, he said.

When he got there, volunteers were already in full swing sandbagging. There were millions of sandbags being filled, he noted.

“Just about every home along the Red River was being sandbagged,” he said.

Volunteers were also building primary dikes right in the middle of the streets through town, along with secondary dikes in case the first dike would leak.

“Volunteers were coming in by busloads from all over the country,” he said. “They knew they had to get it done in a certain amount of time in order to beat the flood. The feeling was everyone was working together.

“All the time I was there, I never saw anybody get mad or get angry. Everyone was just working, period. They had a mission to do, to get the dikes built.”

Scheib said he will be going back in about two weeks, though he does not know the exact area yet. Another local Salvation Army team is still in Grand Forks.

“We see the need out there,” he said. “Personally I feel good about it that I’m doing something for somebody. It’s my way of helping, and that’s what the Salvation Army is all about, helping people.”

He’s assisted in floods in Winona, Rushford, Austin and in Iowa previously.

Albert Lea Fire Department

As two of hundreds of firefighters assisting in flood-relief efforts, Albert Lea firefighters Bart Berven and Brett Boss helped from March 23 through 26.

Berven said their assistance as firefighters was requested by the Moorhead Fire Department.

They worked out of the fire station, and the fire department was in charge of sandbagging. They’d get assigned different sectors and made sure the volunteers were making the dikes to the right heights.

He said he was impressed with how people worked together.

“What I saw was people working together, how something like this brought all walks of life together — people working for a common goal,” Berven said. “It was just so impressive how everybody had the big picture in mind instead of how we tend to worry about ourselves a lot of the time.

“The thing that media couldn’t get across as from what I’ve seen is how connected you feel to those people. You get to know people on a first-name basis. You get emotional.”

He recalled one 80-year-old man who lived by himself. The man said he’s lived there his whole life and never seen a flood like this one.

Berven said he got to know several people, who were all so appreciative that people who didn’t know them would come and help.

He said he and Boss are also expecting to go back in the coming weeks.

Lewis and Scheib said there is always a need for more volunteers if people are interested. To assist in a situation like a flood, volunteers have to go through specific training, but that training is free.