{"id":294376,"date":"2025-06-27T09:23:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T14:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=294376"},"modified":"2025-06-27T11:27:56","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T16:27:56","slug":"volunteers-lead-storm-cleanup-efforts-in-valley-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=294376","title":{"rendered":"Volunteers Lead Storm Cleanup Efforts in Valley City"},"content":{"rendered":"
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VALLEY CITY (Valley News Live) – About 50 volunteers showed up to help one family in the southwest part of Valley City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tucked away in southwest Valley City is the Severson home, a home now a total loss after a tornado swept through the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know, an event like this happens, you don\u2019t think it\u2019s ever going to happen in this area, obviously,\u201d said Jordyn Heck, the Transportation and Facilities Director with Valley City Public Schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo hesitation on willingness to give back. When I was told people needed help, my house was good and everything. So, I said \u2018Let\u2019s go out and help people that needed more help than I did,\u201d said Aaron Heck, with works with Valley City Public Schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A text message was sent over the weekend asking the community to come together and help out. Tuesday, about 50 volunteers were up and early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithout hesitation, without being begged, without being bribed, any of that kind of stuff. It was \u2018Hey, we just need some help. This family needs help with this.\u2019 They didn\u2019t hesitate. They\u2019re out here, they\u2019re busting their butts. It\u2019s awesome to see, it\u2019s been really nice,\u201d added Aaron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Homeowner Marlin Severson did not want to talk on camera. But some younger volunteers like incoming 7th-grader Wyatt Maresh did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was in Bismarck during the weekend when the tornado hit, and I was feeling guilty that I couldn\u2019t be here to help. Right when I got back to town, I was like, \u2018What can I do to help people out?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior Kellen Westman also shared his thoughts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know there\u2019s been a lot of talk about hurricanes and everything all around. But living in Valley City, North Dakota, it feels like we\u2019re pretty untouched by that. Something like this really wakes you up. But I think it\u2019s important to definitely wake you up to how your community reacts to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the house is still standing, it\u2019s going to be a long road ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI mean, look at all the kids who showed up just for this. All the staff, adults, and community who showed up and said \u2018There\u2019s something I can do to help and I\u2019m going to offer that.\u2019 My reaction to this is obviously it\u2019s wild to see, but it\u2019s pretty amazing to see the good hearts of everyone who knew that they had things to give in this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To donate to the Severson Family\u2019s GoFundMe, you can click here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019d like to volunteer on Wednesday, June 25th, or Thursday, June 26th, you\u2019re asked to meet at 8 a.m. at the VCPS District Offices (460 Central Avenue N.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also email josh.johnson@k12.nd.us or courtnie.d.fick@k12.nd.us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VALLEY CITY (Valley News Live) – About 50 volunteers showed up to help one family in the southwest part of Valley City. Tucked away in southwest Valley City is the Severson home, a home now a total loss after a tornado swept through the area. \u201cYou know, an event like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":291870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-294376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-valley-city"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=294376"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":294379,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294376\/revisions\/294379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/291870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=294376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=294376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=294376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}