Today I went to a community association annual meeting in a small town near us. This community was very successful in organizing flood recovery, led by their volunteer fire department, which was already set up as a non-profit so could accept tax deductible donations and apply for grants. As we near the second anniversary of our big flood, they have formed a flood recovery non-profit to take over and get the fire department out of the flood recovery business.

The notable thing is that while other groups talk and talk about doing things like this, and make mountains out of molehills, these people just dig in and get it done. They could start a business that teaches other communities how to survive.

It was a very long meeting, more than three hours, and while it was fascinating, especially the part where they got in a big argument about whether their new community center will serve 'those people' which includes everyone who doesn't live in their subdivision, namely another nearby subdivision called The Reserve, that has nicer houses than theirs. The Reserve folks are welcome to use the new community center that's planned, but they can't have a voice in how it is run. Mind you, 'those people' went through the same flood, suffered similar hardships, and donated money to the fire department that was helping everyone. Now that there is about $100,000 left, and even though one of 'those people' came up with an idea that brought in $75,000, they are still outsiders.

I was glad it wasn't my problem. And overall, I was glad I went to that meeting because I re-connected with a woman who was on the same flood evacuation bus with me back in September 2013 - 2 hours to the Denver airport. We both had cats in kennels, and I've always regretted not getting her name so I could followup with her later to see how things went.

There was another couple whom I met later at the Red Cross center, and have tried to stay in touch with them by phone and cards once in awhile, but it was nice to see them in person again.