Clean-up crew: Doing their bit for the community flood recovery were (in the utility) Jack Dunne, Hamish Stewart and Tobie Woodfine, with (from left) Kian Verral, Sophie Joyce, Kaitlyn Joyce, flood-affected home owner Jenny Major, Nate Ramussen, Lachie Joyce, Matt Harrington, Lawson Kath and Jordy Rasmussen.
Google the seven characteristics of “Zoomers” and a couple of those personality traits will explain the recent contribution by a group of teenagers from Rochester to the flood recovery.
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Zoomers, or Generation Z, are people born between the mid-1990s and the late 2000s.
A dozen of them created their own clean-up crew last Tuesday to assist in the recovery effort at Rochester.
Moving away from the uncomplimentary tag that was associated with Millennials (or the “me generation’’), Zoomers (or Generation Z) are known for their pragmatic, accepting and inclusive approach to life.
That was obvious in the celebrated work of a 12 teenagers who moved from house to house last Tuesday and Wednesday to offer their assistance in the clean-up after floodwaters had receded.
Zoomers seem to be taking the lead from the Baby Boomers (of 1946-1964, and in many cases grandparents to Generation Z) in their devotion to becoming mobilised in the event of a tragedy.
Nate Rasmussen, a 16-year-old member of the ‘Tigers clean up crew’, immediately ticked one box when contacted about the Rochester Football Netball Club group that volunteered for the recovery effort last week.
He quickly deflected a question about who was the “ring leader’’ behind the call to arms by suggesting it was a group decision.
“All but one of the group goes to the secondary college and most of us live in town,” Nate said.
“The original plan was to help at the home of a teammate, but he was all sorted, so the hall was our first job (next to the library).
“There was a lot of mopping and moving stuff from one spot to another.”
Nate’s Baynes St home, on the east side of Rochester and not far from the recreation reserve, was not impacted by the floods.
“We were one of the lucky houses,” he said, “there were homes at either end of our street that were flooded.’’
Nate said pretty much everyone who helped out was fortunate in regard to damage to their homes.
Most of the teenagers involved in the crew were members of Rochester’s Under-16 team.
They enlisted the support of Nate’s father, Steve, and his uncle Jake Perry to drive the utility that was used to collect damaged household items.
They spent two days, from 9am until 4pm, at various locations.
“We knew about half of the people’s houses we went to,” Nate said.
“It was made easier by Darryl Schwab (recovery co-ordinator for volunteers), as he provided us with the addresses.”
Among those houses was the home of Jenny Major, mother of supermarket owner Brad, where a few of the boys are part-time employees.
“I work part-time at the supermarket, we were helping out a little bit there on Wednesday,” Nate said.
Nate’s parents, Jacinda and Steve Rasmussen, set a good example and were among the community volunteers involved in the clean-up.
“They’ve been working 7am to 5pm every day from Monday through until today (Thursday),” he said.
Nate was only five when floods hit in 2011, but said he remembered his mother showing him an area of their backyard that was flooded.
Nate said a lot of students had decided to pitch in because there was no school, and they knew a lot of people whose homes had been completely flooded.
He said he felt for several of the footy club boys who were doing VCE and had to deal with the floods in the lead-up to the October 26 start to exams.
Meanwhile, on his day off he was watching over his three little brothers and a little sister, being the eldest of five.
His grandparents were evacuated out of Rochester on the Saturday of the flood event, while his uncle Ryan and aunty Kate were also forced from their homes.
Ripping into it: (From left) Lachie Joyce, Harrison Foster, Dylan Hall, Hamish Stewart, Nate Rasmussen, Matt Harrington and Jack Dunne after removing damaged carpet from a flood-affected home in Rochester.
