Reuniting to Rebuild - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Reuniting to Rebuild

Flood rebuilding efforts have brought a lot of families together to fix damaged houses.
Kelli Volk reports on how one family traveled across the globe to help another family.

Iceland to Minot, North Dakota is no small trek.
However, if you ask Minot resident Clayann Almquist, it seems no distance is too far to keep families from reuniting.
After Clayann's husband passed away during last year's flood, a person from her past was quick to offer his help in rebuilding.
(Clayann Almquist, Minot Resident)"He found out after the fact that Ron had passed away.  He called me and he said "I'm so sorry I missed that", but he said "we're coming over" we, his family, "are coming over to help you do something on your house."
Gudmar Gudmundson traveled from Iceland to Minot 25 years ago to stay with the Almquist family as a part of a foreign exchange program.
(Gudmar Gudmundson, Former Foreign Exchange Student)"I went to Des Lacs Burlington High School and lived here with the Almquists and it was a great year.  I had a lot of fun."
(Clayann Almquist, Minot Resident)"But he's been an awesome, awesome kid and I would recommend anyone having an exchange student.  We were very blessed to have had such a wonderful son."
Gudmar's time with the Almquist family allowed him to make an archive full of lasting memories.
Returning to the place he once called home, seemed like the obvious next step.
(Gudmar Gudmundson, Former Foreign Exchange Student)"They fed me and sheltered for a year and they are like a family to me, so that's what friends and family do."
It's a reunion that Clayann will never forget.
(Clayann Almquist, Minot Resident)"We loved him as a regular son.  So it was again, another blessing through this flood and so on ."
In Minot, Kelli Volk, KX News.

Gundmundson and his family will be in Minot until Tuesday working on the Almquist house.