Emergence

Today marked our teams' first day bringing hope to those affected by the flooding in our area.

I have to start by saying that I'm so grateful for the work of Jeff Hull, who is coordinating the work on the ground. Long before we got our act together, he was already helping, welcoming a displaced family into his home, and lending a hand where needed. Today he moved from front runner to team leader, and we couldn't be more grateful.

In all we had nearly 30 people serving throughout the two shifts today. While it is a bit chaotic on the ground trying to assess the need, there is plenty of need to be found.

As a reminder, less than 72 hours ago, this is what Pequannock looked like:

Today, that same spot looks like this:

And while the water has drained, the mess in the area has only begun to emerge:

And so, our first relief team gathered at 1pm this afternoon to head out into the community and do what we can to help.

We split into three teams and went to three different homes to start the work.

The first home reached was indicative of what we would see. While there was a lot of work to be done (and still is tomorrow) the encouraging thing was that this home had already been reached by the people of the Chapel. Our subteam joined up with a few other people from the Chapel's Women's Ministry and began to empty out the home of belongings.

In order to fully understand why we have to do these things, you must know that these homes were intruded on by more than 10 inches of water in the first floor living space. In addition to affecting the contents inside the home, it also affected the sheetrock and insulation on those floors. Our job is to go in, bring everything out of the house, see what is ruined and bring it to the curb or decide it is salvageable and place it aside.

To get the full picture, understand that the water that entered into these homes is not just river water--it is any water below river level, including septic water. This water doesn't just get things wet, it infects.

The second team went to another home on the next street over and found the same need--it had to be emptied.

Another thing complicating the clean up is that there is no running water, no way to cook, and in some instances, no electricity. And while people are resilient, their pets don't always fair too well. This second home was inhabited by a wonderful woman named Yvette, who in addition to having her home cleaned out, found a foster home for her dog for a couple of weeks--one of the Chapel volunteers took the 1 1/2 year old german shepherd in for her. She was beyond thrilled.

The third team headed over to Brookside Ave. There, they found plenty to do.

The first job was emptying out the home of an overwhelmed, but extremely thankful woman named Linda. Her, her husband, her son, and his girlfriend live in this home together. She was absolutely emotionally wrecked. She didn't know where to start.

When we got there, she asked if we could empty her garage--which was filled all the way to the ceiling.

The team got in and got to work, clearing out the room in about an hour.

The team then emptied the back porch and began removing the carpet and padding, which was completely waterlogged.

After it was cleared out, some more cleanup was done, all the while spending time with the family. A lot of the cleanup that needs to be done has nothing to do with the homes. These are peoples' lives that have been rocked.

We closed our time with Linda this afternoon by praying for her. She couldn't be more thankful, and she began to weep as the entire team came around her to pray. The pervasive thought in my head is the real work isn't what we're doing, it is what God is doing.

In the midst of all of this work, we continued scouring the area, finding more projects to step up to:

- Across the street from Linda, we met Richie. In addition to having a beautiful family with three kids and having to deal with this flood, Richie was hit by a car this morning. Needless to say, he needed help, and once he was released from the hospital, he was beyond thankful to have some hands around to move what he didn't have the strength to.

- A team moved railroad ties that had floated from a yard in one block down the street to the entire next block. We couldn't lift these ties easily, but the water sure did.

- Some of our folks moved a refrigerator from a basement to a curb for someone who couldn't do it.

- We cleaned out the home of a man named Jamal--who, it turns out, is a follower of Jesus.

- We spent more time praying with people: I was surprised at the openness that people showed. A few places didn't even need help with labor, but responded quite emotionally just because we asked if they needed help. We prayed with those people.

- We were able to, because of a great arrangement with Cosmo Bella, a pizzaria in Pequannock, provide dinner for a number of families. Even something as small as not having to worry about that made a lot of difference.

This evening, another wave of volunteers came in to continue the work. They revisited Linda, and began work in a couple of other homes. Tomorrow, some sheetrock demolition will begin, and the item removal will continue.

This is just a quick account. There's a lot I missed, but you don't have to miss it. Sign up to join in the team for Friday or Saturday. There's still a lot to do. My guess is our epicenter of work will grow tomorrow to include other areas, and we can use all the help we can get.

To sign up or to get more info, click here.