The Drug Awareness Recovery Team (DART) had a workforce of six handling sandbags Thursday while City of Prince George sand trucks filled them with sand in preparation for possible local flooding along the rising Fraser River.
The group loaded 4,000 sandbags in the last five days, often working in cold and rainy weather this week.
"We think that is an adequate inventory but if we need additional sandbags we will know about it in enough time that we can bring in a team from DART again and fill more," said Scott Bone from the City of Prince George. "The reason I selected them is, we have worked with them in the past on other projects, they have the skill we needed for this, and they have the availability of staff on the short notice we had. They were helpful and cheerful and dedicated to the task despite some challenging weather conditions."
DART is not just a pool of willing minds and strong backs. They are all recovering substance abusers - addicts of alcohol or drugs - who are pushing through their dependencies with productive work and supportive camaraderie. The organization has been running for the past 20 years, focused on lawn care, gardening, snow removal, trail maintenance, and other odd jobs.
"I think they feel good about potentially saving parts of the city from flooding," said DART leader Gene Martell. "The high water is a major concern. We have a high river, and a lot of rain in the last 24 hours. We will see how it goes, but it is something I think is definitely on their minds. It is pretty systematic work - they are at it from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. in a sort of assembly line filling the bags at the truck, tying the bags off, stacking them on pallets - but what keeps them doing it is knowing the safety they are providing."
Martell said the program survives on the private contracts they get, with some major work provided by the city and Yellowhead Road and Bridge. He was pleased that when there was a sudden need from one of those major clients, they didn't hesitate to call.
"We could have hired a private firm to do this, but using DART helped meet our social development agenda that we have at the city," Bone said. "I got a chance to meet the guys, and they've had some challenges in life that they have worked hard to overcome, and they're real credits to their community and to themselves. They have an organization backing them up, they are getting paid better than minimum wage for this job, and they've earned it. It's positive for everyone."
"I can't say enough how we appreciate it when the city or YRB gives us a chance to do a project like this," Martell said. "Instead of being a cost to society, they are doing a job people need done, they are getting paid a worthwhile wage, paying their taxes, paying their bills, taking part in the community like we all do."
For more information on DART call 250-563-6311.
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