Salisbury District UPDATE

Salisbury District Disaster Relief Update TROPICAL DEPRESSION FAY REPORT Edward Peurifoy – Disaster Relief Coordinator

Tropical Depression Fay visited our area between August 26th and August 28th bringing eleven to fifteen inches of rain to the Salisbury District within a twenty-four hour period. This resulted in the flooding of many homes whose owners never imagined that they would ever be in such a situation. The state opened offices in the basement of the Cabarrus County Courthouse to which people could come and request aid from the state and the Red Cross. Sally Langford and I, representing The United Methodist Church, spent two days at the courthouse offering help to those who requested it. Most of the people needing aid came those first two days and it became obvious to us that our presence there after two days was no longer necessary. Only one other family was referred to us by the Red Cross after that two day period. Our presence at the courthouse resulted in fifteen families requesting assistance from The United Methodist Church.

Jackie Bolden and Tony Oberley, both with our Conference Disaster Response Committee, came down from Clyde and spent two days in our district. Jackie Bolden, serving as a case worker, interviewed the families to determine their financial needs and abilities. Tony Oberley surveyed the homes to determine their structural needs and the best way to meet those needs. Betty Smith from First United Methodist Church in Salisbury served as a case worker with some of the families that later requested help. Roy Helm, director of Wesley Community Development Cooperation also came to look at some of the homes.

Carlos Baldwin, a member of Trinity United Methodist Church in Kannapolis and one who has had many experiences at renovating houses in the area and on mission trips and is acquainted with local building contractors and building suppliers, came on board and got the rebuilding phase started. He was a God send to me because my building experiences are limited and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the enormity of the task before us. Carlos set up an account for the district with Gulledge Building Supply Company in Kannapolis and helped in getting the families needing assistance adopted by our various churches.

Mike Collins, with the Conference Disaster Response Committee, informed us that the conference would be able to supply us with a limited amount of money for each family. We never exceeded that amount with any of the families and therefore did not need to seek out other sources of revenue. The faith communities of some of the people who had requested help from us were beginning to step in and help the people out and so we were left with eight families.

We have taken out sheetrock and put in new. We have replaced old roofs with new ones. We have built new drainage ditches. We have applied new paint and replaced carpeting and other types of floor covering. We have had licensed electricians come in to replace wall outlets. We have paid bills for families and bargained with contractors for the lowest price to make our dollars go further. But more importantly, we have listened to the people. We have heard their stories of how they stepped out of bed at 2:00 A.M. onto a floor that was ankle to knee deep in water. We listened to two of the families tell us of leaving their home in a boat. We have heard the stories of young couples, middle age couples, and those approaching retirement. We have heard the stories of those living on disability and Social Security. We have heard the stories of those who all they had was in their homes. We have listened and we hope that our listening has been of some comfort to them. We have listened but more importantly we have prayed. We have prayed with them and privately for them. We have even cried with them. Let us hope that with our helping, with our listening, with our praying and crying with them they will know that they are not alone.

Let us hope that even though they may not be able to see God in the storm that they will be able to see his presence and love in the recovery. So many people have been involved in the work of this recovery that if I started to recognize them by name I fear that I would leave someone out. Please know that the time and effort of each and every person is greatly appreciated.

We have worked because we love people and because it is what Christ asks of us. I would like to give recognition to our various churches that did adopt families to help through this crisis. They are: First UMC-China Grove, Center UMC, Harrisburg UMC, Central UMC - Concord, Trinity UMC, Jackson Park UMC, Cold Spring UMC, and Forest Hill UMC.

The equipment that is kept in our district disaster relief trailer was a help at many of the sites. This trailer is stored at Cold Springs UMC and is available for use by all of our churches If your church would like to use the trailer or just some of the equipment in the trailer for a mission trip or local project please call me, Edward Peurifoy, at 704-786-2741. I am happy to say that our recovery efforts from Tropical Depression Fay damage are now complete. A great thanks goes out to all who helped with this recovery and may God go with those who helped and with the families that received the help.