When disasters strike, people of religious faith pitch in with prayer, cash and, sometimes, chain saws.

The Valley Church Chain Saw Disaster Relief Unit is based in Central Iowa and had its origins in a January 2006 trip to New Orleans to help with the massive cleanup after Hurricane Katrina. It became a permanent group, it has grown, and there has been no shortage of storm damage to address.

(Photo above: The truck and trailer that haul crew and equipment to disaster sites – photo submitted)

The concept is simple. When a tornado, a straight-line windstorm or an ice storm knocks down a lot of trees and branches, the Chain Saw Disaster Relief Unit puts out the word to all or some of the 1,800 people across the state who are on its email list. In most cases, just a half-dozen or 10 members will gather at the storage shed where a trailer containing about 11 Stihl chain saws and safety equipment is kept, hook the trailer to the group’s 1995 truck and head for the broken limbs.

“We’re never sure what we’re going to do there,” said Kim Dreher, a leader of the organization and a real estate broker at Knapp Properties Inc. in West Des Moines. When they arrive, “sometimes there’s nobody in charge, so we drive the streets and look for the people with the least resources who need help,” he said.

They offer to help for free, ask to share a prayer, and then fire up the saws.

The cause has taken them to Mapleton, Earlham, Garwin and Marshalltown this year, as well as Joplin and Sedalia in Missouri. They went to Parkersburg after the tragic EF5 tornado strike in 2008.

“I believe I was put on Earth to help other people,” said Dreher, who attends the Waukee Community Church. “I think this is what God directed me to do.”

It’s hard work and has its dangers. At the very beginning, the first members got safety instruction from a similar group based in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Some of the Central Iowa volunteers are chain saw veterans, and others learn on the job.

It has its physical rewards, too. “When your cologne is oil and gas, it doesn’t get much better than this,” said Dirk Roghair, general manager of The Lodge at Ashworth and a Valley Church member. Like Dreher, he lives in town, “but we wish we lived in the country,” he said.

Clearly, though, it’s the spiritual benefit that means the most. “It’s quite amazing,” Roghair said. “You think you’re helping them, but they end up helping you, in a sense.”

Cash donations from churches and the business community have helped the group buy equipment or rent a lift or a wood chipper. Word of mouth has led to a new service, that of clearing land for Habitat for Humanity projects in Greater Des Moines.

And now, “we’re reaching out to the state for a greater group of volunteers,” Dreher said. “The Evangelical Free Church of America in Minneapolis would like to have regional disaster groups.”

For him, every visit to a disaster site seems to result in chance meetings that are full of meaning. “It’s interesting how God matches us up with people,” Dreher said. “I can’t tell you how much this has changed my life.”