TODAY IN MISSION YEARBOOK
Mission Yearbook: Flooding brings out Presbyterian compassion
Presbyterians lent support to Kentuckians recovering from mid-February flooding that was particularly severe in the eastern part of the state during a stretch of bad weather that began with heavy rain and quickly turned to snow.
From grant funding from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance to a recent church cleanup at Eastern Kentucky’s McGuire Memorial Presbyterian Church in Beattyville, Presbyterians have been eager to let survivors know they’re not alone.
“The people who come are a blessing, but I also think they receive a blessing,” McGuire’s pastor, the Rev. Vernon Goodman said, as volunteers from the Presbytery of Transylvania stopped by for the cleanup. “We just come and let people get loved on and let the Lord do what he does and try to have as much fun doing it as we can.”
Across the state, at least 24 people were killed, and emergency crews performed more than 1,000 rescues. At least two of the deaths were from hypothermia related to a cold snap that followed the flooding.
“It’s devastating,” said the Rev. Philip Lotspeich, Transylvania’s general presbyter, who reflected on a cycle of heartache that has included multiple major floods in a short span. Flooding “happens all the time, but to have three major life-changing events in four years is a lot for people in the mountains (of eastern Kentucky) to have to process and handle.”
“What's so historic about this flood is that it's impacted the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky at the same time,” said the Rev. Jim Garrett, disaster host site coordinator and disaster recovery coordinator for the Presbytery of Transylvania who also serves as the PDA representative on West Virginia VOAD. “So, we have flooding in all of our presbyteries in Kentucky — Western Kentucky, Mid-Kentucky Presbytery, Transylvania Presbytery and a little bit of Kentucky is Cincinnati Presbytery. But, of course, the greatest impacts are here in Transylvania Presbytery.”
Garrett was speaking from McGuire Memorial on a recent Saturday morning as volunteers from the presbytery braved temperatures in the teens and 20s for cleanup. He explained why Eastern Kentucky is particularly vulnerable to this kind of disaster.
“In Eastern Kentucky, our geography is such that when we get heavy rains and the waters come down into the hills and the valleys and the hollers that it just floods,” he said. “We've had two churches — buildings — that have had impact that we know of, and then some other Presbyterian-affiliated groups have had impact in their buildings, too.”
During the clean-up at McGuire, Goodman explained how this flood contrasted with a flood that damaged the church in 2021.
In last month’s flood, “we got 28 inches of water, completely flooded the lower area, and so although it wasn't nearly as bad as the 5½ feet (of water) we got four years earlier,” it was “still substantial in terms of cleanup,” he said.
The church will have to replace two furnaces at an expected cost of $25,000, up from $18,000 in the earlier flood, Goodman said.
“We're actually going to relocate the furnaces upstairs,” he said. “It's going to be a little bit more of an expenditure, but at least in the future if it floods, we won't have to worry about the water wiping out the furnaces. … In the long run, that'll end up being a blessing.”
Meanwhile, Goodman has his mind on helping the flood-ravaged community. Once the church is ready, it will become a conduit for blessing others in need, just as volunteers from the presbytery have been a blessing to the church during cleanup.
“Our ambition is like it was before: As quick as we can get open and functioning, then we'll become a hub for helping the folks in town” who need things like cleaning supplies, Goodman said. Also, “we'll be offering an opportunity for folks to come and through us help the businesses in town.”
PC(USA) Communications multimedia producer Rich Copley contributed to this report.
Darla Carter, Communications Strategist, Interim Unified Agency (Click here to read original PNS Story).
Let us join in prayer for:
Anne Marie Mazzone, Director, Financial Operations, Finance, Board of Pensions
John McCall, Mission co-worker serving in Taiwan, Global Ecumenical Partnerships, Interim Unified Agency
Let us pray:
Lord, bless us with renewal. We pray our community would be blessed with one mind and spirit in feeding your flock. By your Holy Spirit, inspire and enable foolish moves leading to the flourishing you have promised. Jesus, you call us to feed, by the power of your Holy Spirit. May we answer. Amen.