Young Arizonans Help Clean Up Flood Damage

Five hundred young Latter-day Saint volunteers from Arizona spent part of their Christmas vacation in a massive cleanup campaign to restore farmlands extensively damaged during flooding in October in the Gila Valley of southeastern Arizona.

The three-day campaign resulted in fences being rebuilt, flood debris being removed, and countless irrigation ditches being cleaned and repaired on hundreds of acres of farmlands.

Members and nonmembers alike had previously banded together to restore 21 farm homes that had been inundated with floodwaters and debris. The youths, 14 to 23 years of age, stepped in to clean up the damaged lands where crops were destroyed and irrigation dams shattered. They were from Mount Graham, Southern Arizona, Tucson, Tucson North Stakes.

“It was a fantastic experience,” according to Boyce L. Lines. “Working together in the project not only presented a good image for the young people and focused on the Church; it also proved a great testimony-building experience for the youths.”