LAKE DELHI, Iowa - Lake Delhi wants you to join its Facebook group. It also wants to tweet you, and share it’s blog with you.

A Cedar Rapids woman whose parents own a home at Lake Delhi is behind a social media campaign to restore Lake Delhi, which disappeared when its dam burst July 24.

Tami Garvin says the campaign was a natural extension of her activities on the night before the flood, when she was at the lake, tweeting KCRG-TV 9 meteorologist Joe Winters about the lake’s swollen condition and trying to find out from Winters how much worse things could get.

After the dam burst and the lake drained, Garvin created a Facebook group, “Lake Delhi Iowa,” and began inviting Facebook members to join. The group is now up to 2,467 members.

“Facebook has given me warnings that we’re adding too many people too quickly,” Garvin said. “It’s a popular account. People believe in it.”

One of the first to join the group was Pat Schmitz of Lake Delhi. Among his contributions were a podcast to highlight a group of volunteers who put together an emergency response to answer calls from people seeking help.
“It’s turned into a great tool,” Schmitz said.

“I have a ton of friends on Facebook and most of them have been to my home (on the lake) and a lot of them have become (Lake Delhi) friends.”
Lake Delhi Recreation Association President James Willey has been a frequent contributor to the Facebook group.

Garvin says Willey sometimes send her updates at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. for the Facebook group.

Garvin says the Facebook group has become a great way for Lake Delhi lovers from around the country to share lake memories. Members have posted dozens of pictures, and not just of the damage left by the flood.

Many are happy memories, like a family member’s first plunge into the lake from a popular diving spot known simply as “the rock,” family cookouts, and of course, dogs on boats.

It is Garvin, however, that keeps the group fed with daily updates.

“I’ve posted flood debris removal information, warnings about the muddy lake bed, folks’ experiences with FEMA, boat removal procedures, Delaware County meeting notices and T-shirt fundraiser sales,” Garvin said.

On Wednesday, after Iowa Gov. Chet Culver relayed the news that FEMA would not provide assistance to rebuild the dam, Garvin made this impassioned post on the Lake Delhi Iowa Facebook group.

“I’m afraid that hope has taken a hit today with FEMA’s decision that Lake Delhi’s value is not up to their standard,” Garvin wrote. “For the first time, I’ve seen resentment toward others receiving help while they are denied. And for the first time, I’ve seen expressions of despair and doubt that the Lake will be restored.”

Not all of the posters to Lake Delhi’s Facebook group know exactly what to do with it.

“A little while ago a teenager wrote to me: So are you going to bring back the dam. Do you know or what?” Garvin recalled.

Garvin responded that the group would do everything it can to bring back the dam, and expressed hopes that the teenager would come back to visit.

He said, “Yeah well, because I had so much fun there … wish luck you guys and I can’t wait.”

Lake Delhi had more than 175 Twitter followers earlier this week.

Some of Lake Delhi’s online success is due to Garvin’s professional focus on social network. She is vice president of public relations at Marketing and Communication Strategies Inc. in Cedar Rapids.

Garvin said her primary goals in social networking are to add value and create a conversation.

“This conversation allows those of us who love Lake Delhi to speak to one another and to those in power to drive our very real feelings to top of mind,” she said.