Helping Midwest designer and artist flood victims

The television reports of the flooding in the Midwest have been amazing. I was stunned when I saw the coverage of the amount of water in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Four years ago I was the recipient of incredible hospitality from the local design and advertising community when I was a speaker at a creative conference in nearby Waterloo. My hosts went above and beyond the call of duty in entertaining visiting speakers in downtown Cedar Rapids.

Yesterday one of my online acquaintances from the design community in Cedar Rapids, Andrew Kidd of Kidd Graphic Design, posted a series of photos (one is shown above) on his Facebook profile showing the major damage to his design office. I immediately sent off an email asking Andrew if there was any way I could help. I got the following message in response:

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the email. It really means a lot that people I have never met are being so nice to me. I emailed Veer yesterday saying I had failed to back up a font I purchased, and they responded right away and got that font right to me. Little things like that mean so much right now.

Thankfully, I have a portable hard drive and have most of my files from my computer. Pretty much everything else is gone except 2 "Logo Lounge" books and your "Identity Crisis" book, my camera, portfolio, iPod and bag that I had taken home. They told us to get everything off the floor, because there might be a little water coming in. So everyone did that, and some how, they were off about 10 feet. The water was about 1.5 feet from going over the roof. Some of the wooden furniture like my drawing table, desk, small round table, and chairs might be salvageable if they are refinished.

There is an artists relief fund at Legion Arts, (also referred to CSPS locally because it is an old Czech building) that is taking donations for artists in the area. That would probably be the best way to help local artists. The area I am in is a new cultural district called New Bohemia from the rich Czech culture here in Cedar Rapids. Because of that, it is the unofficial arts district in the city, and there was a lot of artwork lost from the flood. Their website is: www.legionarts.org

Thank you again for caring about us over here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. :-)

Andrew Kidd

You've got to love a guy who saves his copy of Identity Crisis! in the middle of a natural disaster.

Anything others in the design community can do to assist industry peers impacted by the Midwest floods would be greatly appreciated by those who have lost so much. If bLog-oMotives readers know of other assistance resources, in Iowa or other states affected by the flooding, please post the information as a comment. I also started a thread on the HOW Design Forum where information may be posted in regards to assistance resources - or design students, designers or design firms that may be in need of some help.

In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina the design industry came to the aid of their own. It's time to do so once again.

© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives