By Pennsy Waltman
Faith UMC, Bellefonte, and Mt. Calvary, Harrisburg, were so blessed to return to Carteret County N.C. this fall after having served there in the spring. There are 250 families still waiting for help from the 30 inches of rain in 24 hours in 2018 which came up through the floors and rotted them from the bottom up. We helped three families in the spring and two on our trip in October: a grandmother raising four grandchildren (wonderful kids!) and a retired gentleman on disability who had a broken back and neck and isn't able to do a lot of repairs himself. Both homes should have been condemned! Floors were rotted out so that you had to walk on the floor joists in order to cross the room and not fall through the floor. You could see the earth beneath the floor while using the bathroom. Insulation was hanging two feet above the bunk bed where a teenage granddaughter was sleeping. Four tarps on top of each other was keeping some of the rain from coming into the home. The back porch had fallen down onto the concrete making it unsafe to enter the house that way. In one home there has been no hot water since 2018!
The job/housing coordinators are working six days a week without financial compensation but are greatly compensated by seeing what God is accomplishing through His children in mission. We were able to install shower/bathtubs, toilets, new flooring, new roof, a hot water heater, drywall, and much more. The day after we left, God sent another team to finish where we left off. Praise God both families are back in their homes.
We always invite past and present families we have served to join us for dinner and it was a joy to have them all together and hear their stories. The son of the gentleman homeowner helped us on his days off and is taking vacation to join us on our next trip in the spring because "I haven't seen my Dad smile in 3 years and he's been smiling all week!" A couple we helped in the spring thought God had forgot all about them and lost their faith, stopped going to church, and gave up. Seeing us driving all the way from Pennsylvania, sleeping on the floor, and helping people they never saw before brought them back to God and they paid it forward with a check for $1,000 to help us help someone else!
As we all say, "We always get more than we give on these trips!! Maybe God just wants us to keep paying it forward!"
For more information contact Volunteers In Mission Coordinator Michelle Schwartzman at 717-766-7441 ext.3105 or email VIM@susumc.org or visit susmb.org/vim
