St. Paul’s parishioners mobilize to deal with flood damage

The coffers of St. Paul’s Anglican Church have run dry and there are no funds to fix damage caused by the recent flood.

The church was affected financially by the downturned economy of recent years combined with a $20,000 unexpected replacement of three HVAC systems a month ago.

The Conway congregation prayed at Sunday morning’s worship service for the people across South Carolina affected by the recent flooding and said they will put their faith in God that funds will come in to help fix their church’s structural damage.

“I speak of faith and our hope is always in God. God is our provider,” interim pastor Reggie Corfield said following the worship service. “I don’t know where the funds are coming from but I know the good Lord has never failed. He is Jehova Jiveh, which means ‘He is a provider.’ That is one of the characteristics of God. He has never forsaken us. This is his Father’s house. We just need to trust in Him and keep the faith.”

The church runs St. Paul’s Day School and Mother’s Morning Out programs that serve 60 children from infants to 4-year-olds. Floodwaters rose in the church’s back parking lot last weekend overflowing into the four classrooms and bathroom of the day school filling about 1,800-square-feet with close to a foot of water.

The water destroyed the carpeting, the lower portion of the dry wall and the electrical outlets, according to Jeff Miller, the church’s senior warden. The flood also poured into the bottom of the 1930s administration building located behind the church’s original 1908 chapel, which is the location of youth group activities.

Miller said flood insurance was not available to the church and previous mitigation efforts to ensure water does not get into the day school failed with the 1,000-year rainfall that has devastated thousands of people across South Carolina and claimed 17 lives.

“The parking lot is the location of an old grocery store and was gifted to the church,” Miller said. “A stream runs underground here. We have spent so much time and effort to mitigate this problem. Every storm we think that we have got it under control now.”

Miller said it had been at least 10 years since the church had received any water damage from flooding.

This time, however, no one was prepared for the quick rise in ground water that flooded most of the state and has left some residents along the Waccamaw River in Horry County still accessing their homes by boat after more than a week.

Miller said he feared the church was in trouble as he watched the water starting to run into his back yard at Quail Creek.

“It seemed to just bubble up out of the ground,” he said. “This was not expected. If it had been a hurricane, we would’ve taken preventive steps.”

The challenge for the church’s 250 members now is to find funding that can cover the cost of renovations that Miller said might include tiling the floor and the lower wall instead of replacing carpeting. Miller said no quotes have come in yet, but church members have pulled out wet, smelly carpets and done what they can to help.

“God smiled on us in having the parish come together to pay the bill for the air conditioners,” Miller said. “Seven days later, we have to figure out how to fund this. This has been a real challenge mainly for the teachers. You’ve got to have a safe area for the children.”

Fortunately, said Susan Roberts, one of the day school’s 3-year-old classroom teachers, the school lost only a few paper supplies and some furniture.

“Our toys were in baskets off the ground so basically getting back into the rooms is our challenge,” she said.

The day school reopened as soon as the floodwaters subsided, with 60 children now sharing divided space in the Mother’s Morning Out area that previously housed only 20.

During his service, the Rev. Corfield addressed the funding crisis, asking the parishioners to pray for an answer.

“We just got through a financial difficulty putting in new air conditioners,” he said. “You gave everything you have and now we need new carpets, new sheetrock and we do not have the money. It is like we take two steps forward and three steps backward. But the Lord will get us through it…there is always victory and power in prayer.”

This story was originally published October 11, 2015 at 10:33 PM with the headline "St. Paul’s parishioners mobilize to deal with flood damage."