IOWA CITY - Governor Chet Culver praised the volunteer efforts to prepare for and clean up from the floods. But there is more work to do. The governor asked the president to cover 100-percent of the cleanup costs for flooding across the state. Typically the federal amount is about 75-percent. Until there is word from Washington, the governor is calling on all Iowans to volunteer in the cleanup effort.

Clean up on Normandy Drive is noisy work. It is just as loud, if not louder inside the shells of people's homes. AmeriCorps volunteers like Thomas Webering do not worry about the noise. They focus on the work. And there is a lot of it. Webering said, “There's just not enough hands sometimes to get the work done that needs to be done."

Governor Chet Culver met with AmeriCorps volunteers to thank them for their help and to ask for more of the same. He said, "To see neighbors helping neighbors in need really makes me very proud as governor to see that community spirit is alive and well out there."

The work done on Normandy Drive does not go unnoticed. Homeowner Joy McKusick says the help from AmeriCorps and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has knocked two weeks off the time before she can get back home. McKusick said, "They've taken out cupboards, paneling and remaining drywall.

That was just one day. But with hundreds of homes needing help in Johnson County alone, anyone with a spare minute and a shovel might want to think about helping.

To volunteer with the governor’s program visit www.flood2008.iowa.gov or call 800-308-5987.

Email Steve Nicoles at Steve.Nicoles@kcrg.com