We made it safe and sound to Wilkinson, Indiana without encountering any problems on the road on Wednesday evening the 19th. It may have been the lightest traffic and easiest conditions we've seen in a long time. We are so thankful for all the prayers that went up for us, and we are praising the Lord for having His hand of mercy upon us as we traveled.
We are staying with our good friends, Steve and Deb, who’ve served alongside us many times over the years!
We are serving alongside of their church, Wilkinson Church of Christ (WCoC), that was already working on a couple homes before we got here that we had been communicating with on what to do before we arrived. We jumped in to help direct getting everything properly completed to be ready for remediation and of course getting dirty alongside of them as we can!
One of the homes we’re serving at belongs to Ron and Katrina and their two sons who are living with them. Katrina has been battling all sorts of cancer over the past ten plus years and has it in multiple areas of her body including her brain. Obviously, this has been incredibly stressful for her but she's pressing on in the Lord. One of their sons is autistic so they also have that to deal with. They lost almost everything in their home as there was about 17 inches of flood water inside.
The original part of their home has a crawl space, a porch and half of it was 2 story when it was built in the late 1800’s. Over time the second story was enlarged and the porch enclosed with the front door moved, and then later there was a large great room and garage added on that are slab on grade. As we dug into their home, especially in the original parts, we found all kinds of other problems from the way it was added on to and the erosion over the years. It's turning into quite a project, and we want to try to help them as much as we can. We were able to finish the deconstruction and get our drying equipment running in their home on Thursday and so far, so good. Hoping it’s dry by the end of this week so that we can then spray it with our antimicrobial chemical.
Another home belongs to Candy, who is in her mid-sixties and takes care of her mom who doesn't get around well. She lives in an older mobile home. Her home was set up on blocks, and the crawl space was flooded, and she got almost 2 feet of water inside. It is so damaged that it's going to be demolished. Unfortunately, she has been doing a lot of remodeling over the past few years, bringing everything up to code, new windows, doors, roof, siding, etc. She took out a loan to do that and she still has the original mortgage. Her insurance is government flood insurance, and they only cover up to a certain amount, and that amount won't even cover the loans. We've been trying to help her clear things out that can still be kept. She's not sure what she's going to be able to do.
Another home we are helping with is owned by Charles and his wife. They are a retired couple living on a fixed income. Their home is slab on grade and was a kit home delivered by train probably around 1950 and has different framing from what we’ve seen before. There is also some old termite damage that was more than likely before they bought it and covered it up, though the termites are long gone. Their home had about ten inches of water inside. Their family and servants from WCoC had begun deconstructing and removing everything that had been flooded. I showed them what all still needed done for the “final clean” and we were able to put our drying equipment in the Saturday after we arrived and then sprayed it this past week a day earlier than I have expected! They too have government insurance and will not have enough money to rebuild their home, and they still have a mortgage. I’m waiting on their insurance paperwork to see what they want to pay them for and will help get the money that they are owed. More than likely, they’ll have to sell their home and will be moving in with family, where they are currently living.
The next house we assessed is owned by Drew and his wife Hope. They have 3 kids. They got a lot of water in their basement and had been pumping it out. I took a plumber to their home this week and we’re getting some things figured out to stop most of the water from coming back in their home which is coming from the floor drains in the basement. We want to help them get the basement cleared out, and once the water flow has stopped, we’ll dry and spray it. Their home has several issues that contribute to water getting in their home and I’m not sure how much WCoC will be able to help them past stopping the water coming in through the drains, then us drying and spraying it.
The next home on our list belongs to Larry and Barb, a couple in their mid-eighties. Their home was originally a filling station that was added on to several times once it became a house. They have a crawl space underneath and had about 8 inches of water inside their home. Before Mary Jo and I arrived, WCoC had already removed a lot of their furniture, but then Larry became concerned about how they were going to be able to put things back, so he halted the work since they don’t have insurance. I spent a couple of times talking to him and Barb, discussing what needed done, what their options were, the health issues without following our advice and showed him what we did at Ron’s, who lives near the same river, and he finally agreed to move forward. We were able to get back serving at his home after Ron’s, this past Friday and will continue working on it this coming week.
They were debt free up to this point but now aren’t sure what they’re going to do next and are understandably concerned at this point of their age. Someone loaned them a small travel trailer next to their home so that they could have somewhere to be because they kept just going and sitting in their home each day. I think the end goal is for them to temporarily move into the trailer and go from there. Larry has not been sleeping and eating well since the flood, and yesterday it was hot in the sun. He thought he was having a stroke, so the team got him into the trailer and discovered that he hadn’t eaten or drank anything all day. They got him some water and food and put a fan in front of him. He refused to go to the hospital and after some prayer over him and the food and water, got back to his normal, sarcastic self! I was able to talk to him about The Lord through all of this, but he has a few ideas of his own, so pray for their salvation. The AC wasn’t working in the trailer because they had a 100’, undersized extension cord running to it. I ran to the hardware store and got the supplies while two of the guys began getting the prep work done to get the required power to it. One of the guys from WCoC is an electrician and a plumber and has been helping us with electrical and plumbing issues as they come up in these homes and has been a huge blessing. By days end, the AC was up and running fine!
The last home we’ve assessed at this point is yet another older home. It belongs to an older woman whose mom used to own it and is now living in a nursing home. The basement flooded all the way to the floor trusses on the main floor. Her grandsons have been busy clearing the basement out. It’s quite a mess. At some point the basement was finished to use, but now everything needs to be removed and discarded. We will only need to remove the linoleum, baseboards, and some door trim upstairs, and then we can get it dried and finally sprayed. They will not be putting their basement back together and will fix the upstairs on their own. We hope to also get to that this week.
Last Sunday Mary Jo and I went to Cambridge City, about 30 minutes from Wilkinson, to meet up with Charles for dinner. Charles is a long-time disaster relief friend who The Lord used to help us pray about going into disaster relief back when we knew nothing much about it. He was working in another area.
There are a lot of different areas in Indiana and Ohio that were majorly flooded from a rainstorm that dumped over 15 inches of rain in one day a couple of weeks ago. Cambridge City has over one hundred homes that were flooded. Most of the homes in the area are over one hundred years old. After dinner Mary Jo and I drove around assessing the area and found a local church and pastor to see what all was going on with them and if there was anything we could do. He told us that four homes have already been condemned, and over one hundred are substantially damaged. Only a handful of the damaged ones have been able to do small things to move forward. They are waiting for an engineer to assess each of the substantially damaged homes to then determine what can be saved and then worked on. There’s an international group that is helping in the area to deconstruct the homes, but they don’t do drying and spraying. I told the pastor that if we are still here and can help with that part of the process to let us know. At the writing of this update, Saturday, the only thing I’ve heard back is that they are still waiting to decide.
It’s hard to believe that we’ve only been here a week and a half! God is good and has blessed us with many great servants and He’s constantly doing more than we can ask or imagine!
This past week along with the servants from WCoC we had Richard, a repeat offender from North Dakota and a truck driver, schedule his loads to come and help us. He arrived Monday evening and left Friday morning. It was great to see him again!
This week we have one of our favorites joining us, Rob from St. Louis! He’ll be arriving on Sunday evening with 2 others, and they will leave next Saturday.
Please pray for unity with all of us, me and Mary Jo, Steve and Deb, all the local servants from WCoC who have faithfully been serving in their community, and for Rob’s group arriving next week!
Of course, the greatest need is always spiritual. Continue to keep us in your prayers. Please pray for the gospel to go out and be received with faith, for those who know the Lord to deepen their relationships, for people to receive the help they need, for us to be Spirit-led and Spirit-filled, and anything else the Lord brings to your mind. We are always so encouraged when people let us know they are praying, and it's extremely exciting when we learn that what people are praying is what was needed at that time.
If you’re interested in growing in The LORD as you selflessly serve others alongside of Calvary Relief, please let us know! For more info on joining us, click here. Plenty of things to do!
If you feel led to help with any of the expenses with Calvary Relief, please click here.
If there’s ever anything you need prayer about or just need to talk to someone, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us and let us know!
Here to serve and disciple until He calls us home,
Curt & Mary Jo
