A Go Fund Me appeal has been set up for the Isle of Wight community to show their appreciation of the incredible efforts made by a group of volunteers who have worked tirelessly every night for the last three nights to help prevent further flooding on the Island.
Following several days of heavy rain and flooding in various hot spots on the Island — East Cowes, Ryde, Newport among others — Sam Loba posted to Facebook community groups that he’d be going out during the night to clear drains of leaves and other debris in order to help prevent flooding, and called for help.
A group of volunteers joined him, they worked all through the night — and through the rain — clearing debris from drains to ensure surface water had somewhere to go.
They did the same again on Saturday and Sunday nights, joined by more volunteers, including several professionals, such as Jamie from RenoDrain, who had also been working free of charge for several nights in order to support the community.
A gesture of appreciation
There has been an outpouring of comments of appreciation on social media for the efforts of the selfless volunteers and so Danni Rothery decided to launch a Go Fund Me appeal. She explained,
Like many, I have seen the posts from Sam and his group, and other groups like RenoDrain, showing the support and effort they have put in to protecting our community from further flood damage.
They have been out all evening several evenings, facing the rain to unclog drains and clearing debris to try and prevent further flooding and damage to our local homes and businesses.
This has touched many of us as an incredible act of community, and Sam’s posts and updates have inspired many more to join the effort, bringing out a wonderful community spirit which has been amazing to see.
There are a million other things I’d rather do than spend all night clearing dirty drains, but these guys have put themselves out there for the sake of all of us.
This Go Fund Me is for anyone like me who thinks these guys deserve someone to buy them a beer, or some other small token to show our appreciation.
Show your support
If you would like to join others in showing your support for the efforts of those willing to go out in torrential rain to stick their arms down drains to clear them, shovel piles and piles of leaves and debris away from drains among other tasks, head over to the Go Fund Me appeal page.
At the time of publishing, £485 had been raised.
