What Drives Me
Today, I'll share the lifechanging experience that drives my work. Please share what drives you in the comments.
On June 5, 1976, as the Teton Reservoir in Southeastern Idaho reached capacity for the first time, the dam failed catastrophically, releasing 80 billion gallons of water. A wall of water surging at 1 million cubic feet per second wiped out Wilford, then Sugar City and then devastated the much larger college town of Rexburg, home of Ricks College (since becoming Brigham Young University-Idaho).
The flood killed 11 people and left 90 percent of Rexburg residents homeless and financially devastated. Farmers lost 16,000 animals in the flood. It remains in the community’s consciousness to this day, 50 years later.
That summer, communities around the West organized volunteers to help affected residents recover. Combined with Federal aid, the effort helped Rexburg and the surrounding areas largely recover within a year.
In August of 1976, my dad approached me to say, “On Saturday, I’m going with a church group to Rexburg to dig muck and mud out of basements; would you like to join me?”
I was eleven. I thought that sounded like fun.
Many hundreds of us loaded on buses at 2:00 AM. I was giddy with excitement and swear I can remember every telephone pole we passed between Salt Lake City and Rexburg. We arrived at dawn, received donuts and orange juice for breakfast, along with work assignments.
With a small group of volunteers, I was assigned to a home that had originally been condemned, but had just been flagged as suitable for restoration. It had survived the flood on its foundation, losing only its chimney. It struck us as backward, having seen images of destroyed homes leaving only the fireplace and chimney standing.
My first job was to remove the flooring in a small bathroom. With the tools I was given, I tugged, pulled, yanked, levered and groaned, but made little progress virtually unsupervised for three hours. Then, an adult volunteer walked in, grabbed a corner of the flooring, gave it a good yank, and in 30 seconds the job was done.
Lunchtime arrived. I ate a lunch packed at home; I’m sure it was a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Then back to work.
This time, I was invited to help dig the mud out of the rear entry and laundry room area. There was about 18 inches of mud. In contrast, the basement where most of the adults worked all day had about 3 feet of mud in it when we arrived.
The team gave me the shovel no one else wanted. It was a short-handled, wide-mouth shovel for digging horse manure. Years later, I would have a job shoveling horse manure with that same sort of shovel. It was the wrong shovel for the thick, heavy mud. Thankfully, I wasn’t working alone. In time, we got the mud completely removed.
We left the home mudless throughout, with the wallboard and flooring removed down to the studs and subfloors. It was essentially ready for the rebuilding process to begin.
We loaded on buses to return home. Exhausted, I instantly fell asleep and slept until morning, finding myself in my own bed. I don’t know how I got there.
Not long ago, I visited Rexburg. The thriving city is nothing like my memory of 1976. As thoroughly as I searched, I was unable to find the statue that must have been erected in my honor. I wish I could have gotten a photo with it.
Of course, as an adult, I realize that I contributed literally nothing to the effort that day. But as a kid, I didn’t know that. I knew what we’d done together. I could see the impact it had on a devastated family. I vowed then that I would never miss an opportunity to serve other people.
While I haven’t always honored that promise, that experience and that vow have come to define my life and my work.
Today, I am trying to leverage my 25-year career in finance to change the world.
You are a changemaker, too. What drives you? Please share in the comments.
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