Donated machine helps volunteers crank out hundreds of sandbags
May 3, 2023, 6:29 PM | Updated: May 7, 2023, 7:49 pm
OGDEN VALLEY, Utah —People in the Ogden Valley have joined forces to fill thousands of sandbags thanks to a key donation from a Huntsville man.
Darren Funk wanted an easier way to fill the sandbags.
“I’ve been researching different sandbagging machines for the last month, trying to figure out if I could buy one,” Funk said.
The machines are in high demand this year, as you would expect with record snow across Utah.
Volunteers have shown up at communities all over Utah to fill sandbags because of the expected floods to come with the runoff over the next weeks.
Funk did find one machine and he knew if he rented it, the people would come.
“I knew that our community at large needed help,” he said. “We got all ages coming out with neighbors and friends and everything else kind of joining forces. It’s all volunteer.”
As more people heard about the machine they showed up.
“They’re saying, ‘Hey, can I help out in any way?’” Funk said.
Instead of filling a few hundred bags by shovel, the machine helped fill 2,500 bags.
“So it was a significant increase in production and everyone still had energy at the end. So then if we need to, we can go out and start deploying these bags to people that need them,” he said.
A family-owned business in Bluffdale found a similar machine. The Ultimate Sandbagger can fill 1,000 bags an hour.
The company used them to build up a stockpile of more than 7,000 sandbags that are all sewn up and ready to go.
Now Funk is looking ahead, considering whether this kind of help could be needed for months to come.
“It’s really neat how bad things can unite people, as we rally together and come together and try to help others,” he said.
He may buy the machine for use in the Ogden Valley.
“The thought was to just make it available to volunteer groups just to help protect their property and just trying to give back,” he explained.
Giving back to a community, that for his family, has made living here something he’ll never tire of.
“The sense of community and belonging with neighbors has just been really exceptional up here,” he added.
Volunteers expect to be filling up bags until late Wednesday. Funk said there are still a lot of areas that need them.
Funk is currently concerned for the Liberty area which gets a lot of shade from the mountains and the snow is just starting to melt.
