Flood Lessons: Churches seek answer to age-old question
• Vermont Floods Spark Response To Neighbor Query
This story has previously been published in our monthly Today Magazine
By Bruce Deckert — Today Magazine • Editor-in-Chief
CLASSIC QUOTES about neighbors abound — and for the TV generations spanning the three decades that concluded the 20th century, Fred Rogers is one tube luminary clearly associated with the neighbor concept.
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The distinctive TV series “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” aired from 1968 to 2001, and the episodes began with Rogers singing these celebrated lyrics:
It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor — would you be mine?
Could you be mine? ... Please won’t you be my neighbor?
Another quote attributed to Mister Rogers: “Neighbors are people who are close to us and friends are people who are close to our hearts — I like to think of you as my neighbor and my friend.”
A pre-TV luminary is also known for some time-tested quotes about neighbors.
Indeed, Jesus of Nazareth is renowned for his memorable short stories and sometimes comforting yet sometimes controversial statements — among other notable words and deeds.
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His classic short story known as the Good Samaritan — recorded by Luke, the legendary New Testament doctor and biographer — is prompted by an age-old question attributed to a first-century scholar and so-called religious leader/expert: Who is my neighbor?
Besides the obvious answers — such as your literal next-door neighbor or a hurting person in your local church — two Methodist congregations in Connecticut’s Farmington Valley have extended their neighborly response from Greater Hartford to northern New England.
Torrential rain in Vermont caused catastrophic flooding that damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes in July 2023. Heavy rains hit the Green Mountain State in June, saturating the soil, and when cataclysmic rainfall followed in July, historic floods caused widespread and unexpected devastation. About 1-1/2 years later, many homeowners are still waiting for help to repair or rebuild their compromised houses, according to multiple reports.
“A team of trained disaster recovery volunteers spent a week in Vermont helping people whose homes were destroyed,” says a representative of North Canton Community United Methodist Church.
This eight-person volunteer team traveled to Vermont in September to restore two damaged houses. Five volunteers hailed from the two Valley churches — Mike and Donna Motyl of Simsbury United Methodist Church, and Jeff Cedarfield and Sue and Larry Gannon of the North Canton church.
The other three team members were from Immanuel United Methodist Church in Camillus, New York, where Larry and Sue had formerly attended — located about 10 miles west of downtown Syracuse.
UMCOR project manager Marcy Sheaffer was also on-site to oversee the construction. UMCOR is the acronym for the United Methodist Committee On Relief, the humanitarian relief and development arm of the United Methodist Church that aims to alleviate human suffering around the world and “serve as a source of help and hope for the vulnerable,” per the UMCmission.org website.
In July 2024, a year after the disastrous 2023 deluge, further destructive flooding decimated more homes in Vermont, adding watery insult to injury. When flood damage is not covered by insurance, residents sometimes rely on volunteer help to recover — especially older homeowners or those with physical handicaps.
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"I warn you, once you go on one disaster recovery mission trip, you may not be able to stop" — Larry Gannon
SEO keyword – Flood Lessons: Churches Seek Answer
“Once you experience the deep gratitude of people who have lost so much, you quickly understand how important it is to help,” says Larry Gannon, the team leader.
In one 200-year-old Vermont house, the deluge caused part of the stone foundation to cave in. After a professional contractor built a new cement basement wall, substantial work was still required in the cellar to stabilize the structure and avert future issues. During the weeklong trip, the team also rebuilt the home’s collapsed chimney and installed siding to repair an exterior wall.
At the second house, the team repaired sheetrock and painted the basement — since other Methodist teams had previously volunteered for exterior projects, this group focused on interior construction with an eye toward the homestretch completion of restoration work.
Each house is owned by a husband-wife team, and both husbands have Parkinson’s disease: “One from Agent Orange in Vietnam and one from the chemicals in the factory where he worked,” according to a trip report on the Simsbury church website. “Both wives were wonderful examples of facing adversity with a positive, caring attitude.”
The report describes the appreciation of homeowners as “far more than gratitude for work that was absolutely necessary but absolutely unaffordable without the volunteer labor — it is a deep gratitude that their lives were touched by a team of strangers who bonded together with a commitment to serve others with the grace and love God shows us all.”
Another trip is in the works, slated for May 2025, says Gannon: “We will return to Vermont in the spring and would love to have others join us — but I warn you, once you go on one disaster recovery mission trip, you may not be able to stop.”
Stopping his labor of love is evidently not in Gannon’s vocabulary.
September’s Vermont expedition was his 38th trip via the United Methodist Volunteers In Mission, aka UMVIM. He has repaired flood-damaged homes in Iowa, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and now Vermont.
Meanwhile, since May 2023 the Simsbury church has also sent disaster recovery teams to Fort Myers, Florida, to assist those devastated by Hurricane Ian.
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"Neighbors are people who are close to us and friends are people who are close to our hearts" — Fred Rogers
SEO keyword – Flood Lessons: Churches Seek Answer
Further, communication is underway to establish relationships with churches in North Carolina and/or South Carolina for catastrophe response in the wake of Hurricane Helene in late September — the deadliest and most damaging storm in Carolina history.
For more information about joining a team bound for Florida or the Carolinas, email Cassandra Broadus-Garcia at the Simsbury church:
disaster-response@sumct. org — and for Vermont trip info, contact Larry Gannon at the North Canton church: northcantonumc@gmail. com or 860-693-4589.
Let’s return to the first-century media accounts about Jesus of Nazareth, typically referred to as the New Testament gospels, and note two more neighbor references in those timeless biographies — you will likely recall this quote from Jesus: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind ... and love your neighbor as yourself.”
Actually, these two love injunctions are quotations of historical time-honored sayings from the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus takes the concept and dynamic a step further, as follows: “Love your enemies and pray for those who mistreat you.”
Who is my neighbor — a compelling question indeed — how will you answer this classic cross-examination? +
Today editor-in-chief Bruce Deckert is an award-winning journalist who believes we all merit awards when we leverage our God-given gifts for good
Sources — Simsbury United Methodist Church website • North Canton Community United Methodist Church website • UMCmission.org • UMCOR Facebook page • online media outlets
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• This story first appeared in the November 2024 edition of Today Magazine, our monthly publication
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