Donation Depot fundraiser teams up two organizations hit hard by Big Sioux flood

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) – Two organizations that were hit hard by the flooding of the Big Sioux River joined forces for recovery efforts. The McCook Lake Izaak Walton League and the Sioux City Railroad Museum teamed up to host Donation Depot.

Folks were invited to enjoy an outdoor movie with jolly time popcorn, train rides, a live comedy show, and more to help out the museum and Union County flood survivors as they recover from June's disaster.

"We're trying to do our part because as a museum our main purpose is to serve the community, so we want to do our part in helping serve the people of McCook Lake and help them get back on their feet," Sioux City Railroad Museum director T.J. Obermeyer said.

"It's a blast," volunteer Toby Brown said. "Just people buying food, seeing train rides, it's beautiful. And every employee seeing it, it just fills our hearts."

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Free will donations were accepted to help the organizations that were unable to receive federal disaster aid.

"Unfortunately because the Railroad Museum and Izaak Walton, both are nonprofits, none of us qualify for any FEMA relief efforts, so doing fundraisers like this is how we're going to get the Railroad Museum back up and running and how we're going to help Union County get back and rebuilt," McCook Lake Izaak Walton League's Renae Hansen said.

Although the museum is still not officially open, they plan to go full steam ahead with their upcoming Halloween, Veterans Day, and Christmas events.