MADISON (WKOW)-- WKOW has partnered with the American Red Cross to honor people and organizations who have gone above and beyond the call of duty.
They are this year's Red Cross Real Heroes.
Today, in conjunction with Tweedee Productions, we feature a member and an entire team who stepped in one year ago when flooding hit our area.
Bill Weiss is a Red Cross Real Hero and "Someone You Should Know."
To Bill Weis, it seemed like a scene right out of the evening news.
"Driving downtown, where the major flooding was, seeing everybody's things on the street corner, just waiting for it to be picked up by the garbage,' said Bill Weiss. "Very surreal. Very much like you saw in New Orleans where people's stuff was just kind of thrown out by the curb."
Reedsburg HAD become the news. Bill knew his city and surrounding Sauk county communities needed help. The Pamida manager and his team decided to get involved.
"We are the only major retailer in town," said Bill. "We are their store, so therefore, I thought it was important for us to help out."
The Pamida team started coming up with a list of things the people would need to dry out and clean up.
"The first person I called was my district manager at the time," said Bill. "Together we formed this list and he actually called up further with Pamida. With a few calls from me, and by Monday afternoon I think we had everything then it was just a matter of waiting for the truck to come to start getting it out there."
Two short days later the truck arrived. Inside: 18- thousand dollars worth of merchandise from Pamida.
"We had many pallets of water, bleach, fans, dehumidifiers, canned goods, vegetables, just a variety of things," said Bill. "I guess we were really running by the seat of our pants with this because we didn't really know. None of us had ever gone through a major flood like that."
Weis' Pamida team members helped unload the truck and distribute the goods. Another Real Hero helped them figure out where it should go.
"Bev Vaillancourt from LaValle kind of knew what they might need and then we kind of separated it to each community,: said Bill.
For those communities, the truckload of goods and the efforts of the Pamida team were a welcome relief.
"We've had a lot of people come in and thank us for helping out," said Bill.
Even a year later, some people are still bouncing back from the flooding. But, Bill says it's good to know the corporate good Samaritan he works for helped get them on the road to recovery.
This Saturday all 6 selected Red Cross Real Heroes will be honored at a recognition dinner in Madison.
You can hear how each honoree made a difference over the next few months, as we feature them here on 27 News.
