TANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP
On June 10, 2008, the Cedar River in Waverly rose to unprecedented levels. St John Lutheran church in Waverly along with 51 members homes were victims of the flood. Some of the homes were completely destroyed.
The flood water filled the basement of the church to a depth of 10 feet and came within an inch of entering the sanctuary. The basement was a complete loss.
The loss in the basement included the boiler systems, the youth room that was recently refurbished with new furniture, the educational wing with seven classrooms and all supplies, the fellowship hall, the kitchen including 2 stoves, 2 refrigerators, a commercial dish washer, cabinets and most of the dishes. It was estimated that it would cost $200,000.00 to replace the boilers and electrical wiring to make the basement usable again. There was no flood insurance and no grant money from FEMA.
The members of St John are men and women of great faith and they immediately “rolled up their sleeves” and went to work. Countless volunteer hours were spent carrying out the mud in pails plus the many things that had been destroyed. Several of the volunteers were non members from the Waverly community and others came from various parts of Iowa, Minnesota and Michigan.
An appeal was made on the Lutheran church Missouri synod web site asking our brothers and sisters throughout the United States for prayers and a monetary gift.
The response has been overwhelming and after one year the congregation has received $203,000.00 from over 200 sister congregations, auxiliary organizations in the synod as well as the Waverly-Shell Rock relief fund.
The basement is again useable and has served the congregation for funerals and other events including a recent confirmation banquet. Walls have been built in the basement educational wing, the boilers have been rebuilt, the kitchen has been refurbished and refurnished. Visitors will often say as they walk through the basement, “I can’t believe that this once was full of water”.
It’s a wonderful story of faith, hope and determination. It’s a story of love from those who have no human connection but yet reach out to help. Through all this, St John sees the love of Christ working through other Christians. The crisis of the flood has brought it’s members closer together and to show their thanks, they are determined to reach out to others in a time of need.
TO GOD ALONE THE GLORY
