Happy Thanksgiving!! We’re thankful for all The Lord’s blessings to us as He continually molds and makes us more like Jesus, when we let Him! Praying that those reading this are blessed to know Jesus in a personal way and that you too are thankful for all He’s done in your life!
Keeping busy as we can and still trying to be careful not to hurt myself more, though sometimes it’s hard to not push my limits, it is what it is, and I am who I am, (hopefully more like Christ everyday)!
Our last update was almost a month ago. Hamilton who attends CCSRQ has been helping us since day one and continues to help me almost every day I’m serving. Bill from NJ, who helped us in TX after Sandy, decided to come and serve and stayed for almost a month!
After we finished the electric main at Tri-par and since it was mostly the three of us, we’d get contacted by someone needing something to do, we’d work on it until it was done and then we’d have something else to do and do the same. We also did a few things around our church. We also spent some time assessing things that we needed to get scheduled for when we got a team in.
We received a frantic phone call from Charles who needed some tarping, caulking, and taping done on his trailer. It hadn’t rained since Milton, and he hadn’t found anyone to help fix some areas that would leak when it rained, and we were supposed to get hit with another tropical storm. We went over and ended up spending the day fixing his issues.
Since we had some folks coming in, I wasn’t sure what all we’d have for them to do, but God has always been faithful that when folks come with a servant’s heart to do whatever The Lord has for us, they never leave thinking that they wasted their time!
Matt from Church of Christ Wilkinson, Indiana, and who helped us move from GA to FL, brought a team of 5 with him to help us and then 2 others from a different part of Indiana also joined us for a couple of days the same week. We got busy with several projects that we’d lined up just days before they arrived!
During that week we were able to serve at several homes. We removed some widow makers and fixed a fence at church. We were able to do a final clean and spray Aaron’s house. We cleaned debris, replaced a fence and gate, and replaced a small outside storage shed at the home of 3 women, one who’s handicapped and one who’s a missionary oversees, Lou Ann, who owns the house. We did a lot of tree cutting, debris removal, shed tear down, wire cutting, lean to repair, shingle replacement, and some fence repair at an older handicapped couples home. We did some tree and debris removal and minor repair at another couple’s home. We also partially tarped a roof, cleaned up some debris, shored up a shed, and replaced some fencing at Jen’s house, a widow/single mom. We removed a widow maker at John & Michelle’s. We also continued to do more tree work at an elderly lady’s home we’ve worked on several times. Of course we had another flat tire, this time on the diesel, that we got fixed! This makes 2 flats this response!
It was great to serve alongside all these folks and The Lord blessed us to help quite a few people in only 5 days! Every morning, we spent over an hour having breakfast, coffee, and digging into God’s Word together. At the end of the week, they all said that time was precious to them and even with the shorter days because of the time change, we all marveled at how much The Lord allowed us to get done when we put Him first every morning!
After they left, I had some equipment things to work on and a few things around the church. Bill from New Jersey was still with us. We removed shutters from a widow’s 2 story home. It had rained and Faith Community got more water in their church, so we went and did more remediation work for them. Continue to keep them in your prayers as they are still trying to work things out with their current landlord who hasn’t made any progress with repairing the roof. They continue to meet at First Baptist of Nokomis and that is working out good for them for now.
We also looked at CC SonLife in south Venice. They rented a meeting hall that got flooded and the owners didn’t remediate it properly and mold was growing so they couldn’t meet there. We talked to them and offered to clean it up for free if the church was still able to meet there. The owners had to have some board meetings to figure things out. In the meantime, the church found a more suitable place to immediately meet. It turns out it’s a better fit for them, so they are not going back to their former location and have moved down the road to Englewood.
We have also been helping Brett and Shannell and their 2 kids who got flooded twice and got wind damage from both Helene and Milton. We lived with Brett’s uncle and aunt for 7 months the first time we served in Lyons, CO. Ed came out to help them and asked if we could do what we could. We couldn’t help them with the tear out but with the help of Ed, friends, and some local volunteers, we instructed them what needed to be done and loaned them some tools. They got everything completed so we put our drying equipment in their home and after it was dry, we sprayed it.
They must be out of their temporary rental by 12/31 so they need to get things done as much as they can because rentals jump way up in price here for the “season” and they won’t be able to afford a short-term rental, and their insurance doesn’t cover it. Their home is an older home that had been added onto a few different times. A lot of the electrical needed to be replaced due to the flooding, and some of it just wasn’t safe. Brett and I worked on that for a couple of days and he’s got a few things to finish up, then he’s going to insulate, and drywall starts next week. We’ll continue to monitor their progress and jump in to help whenever we’re needed, and we can.
We met Trent and Rachel when we were here for Ian. They weren’t affected by Ian and helped us a couple of times and we became friends. He fishes and crabs for a living and lives on a small canal that gives him access to the Gulf. Their home was paid for, and they lived there for a long time. It got flooded during Helene and we talked on the phone before, during, and after the flood to help them figure out what to do. And then before they could get everything safely moved and stored off the property, Milton flooded them again and more stuff got flooded, including things they’d put in a storage pod on their property.
The government has told them they can’t rebuild at the same level their home is on so their home will need to be torn down and then a new one will be put on piers and lifted over 10’ off the ground. They did get a full payout from their insurance company, but it doesn’t cover the demo, lifting, or temporary housing. Rachel’s job provided a place to stay for a month, but they ended up moving back into their unfinished home that hasn’t been properly cleaned out, dried, or sprayed yet.
We’re trying to help them figure out what to do as it is not safe for them to continue to live at their house and because of what he does for a living, they really need to stay where they are and a similar location that is high enough to not be flooded is way too much money for them. Please keep them in your prayers.
We had some homes to assess so we spent a couple of days doing that, and then Bill headed back to NJ.
Hamilton and I continued to do some assessing and replaced some soffit at Frank and Sue’s home. In the mean time we met a widow, Donna, whose husband of 60 years died earlier this year. She lost some of her roof and got some water damage inside her home. Her insurance company is giving her the run around and she said her kids and grandkids are too busy to help her. We tried to help with the insurance company and to find a roofer who could get her roof fixed and then we’d do the inside for her as her deductible is over $4k. Unfortunately, she was getting advice from others that didn’t line up with what she needed to do and said she found a cheaper solution and was moving forward with that and didn’t want the hassle of the insurance company and possible dealing with FEMA for help. I spent a lot of time with her and for her and really wanted to get her safe in her home but, as it sometimes happens, we can only do what the homeowners want so we won’t be helping her. Please keep her in your prayers.
We’ve got a lull in the action and still need to get our 5th wheel, and the rest of our equipment moved from VA to FL, so we’ll be taking off Saturday the 30th to start packing things up. Steve, a long-time friend and repeat offender from CofC Wilkinson, will join us with Dan with their church van and enclosed trailer on Tuesday evening. We’ll hopefully be able to get everything loaded up and the 5th wheel ready to roll on Wednesday, so we can begin our 2-day journey back to FL on Thursday. They’ll need to drop and turn around to get back home ASAP so pray that all goes well.
When we set up our 5th wheel in VA it fell off the blocks when we were jacking it up and it bent one of the landing legs, so we’ll have to figure out how to get that retracted to move it. We also have 3 of the 4 slides that have gotten water leaks in them that have led to the floors getting wet, so we have to figure out how to get them retracted without causing any more damages and that we can pull back out once we get to FL and I’ll need to work on fixing those, which will be quite a process I’m sure! We also had an AC unit quit working in it when we went back to get our bunkhouse. They don’t make this type anymore and the ones they sell now require different wiring than what ours has. I picked up a used one several years ago and it is in Chattanooga, TN along with a couple other parts. We’re looking for someone to deliver this stuff for us. If anyone is driving between there and FL. Please pass the word out and pray! We never know what will happen with our older vehicles when we travel so that’s always a concern. My diesel AC has died so that will need replaced when we get back to FL, but hopefully it won’t be too hot traveling! Please pray for all that as well.
As soon as we get back, we’ll have at least 2 more guys from CoC Wilkinson serving with us and praying that we get that sorted out with everything else going on. Other than them we have a mom and her teenagers from CC Silvercreek in OH coming down between Christmas and New Years, and then The River Church in Lyons, CO is wanting to send a couple of teams in January to help. I’ll need to get some time to figure out what all we’ll do with them.
This response has been different once again. With not many wanting to come and help upfront and we’re busy doing what we can as things are needed to be done now, I just haven’t had time to figure out all we can do. I’m not sure how much involved we’ll get with rebuilds outside of Brett’s as all of that requires small teams of servants coming in on a fairly regular basis, so we’ll see what The Lord does! He’s always good and always knows what He’s doing!
Continue to keep all of this and our health in your prayers. There’s always lots to do with our vehicles and equipment on top of helping with those affected by the storms, discipleship opportunities, helping around the church, etc.!
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
