Another opportunity to help others

ARLINGTON — Area churches and volunteers have come together to help victims of last year’s flooding in Lewis County, Wash., rebuild their homes and lives, but more help is needed, and the Arlington Free Methodist Church is offering another opportunity to pitch in.

June 17, 2008 6:01 pm

The Free Methodist Church will be hosting a get-together June 22, with a barbecue at noon, to celebrate the work that’s been done on behalf of Robert and Art Moore, two Boistfort Valley brothers over 60 who were “adopted” by Free Methodist and other churches, including The Point and Smokey Point Community Church.

Jeanne Wessel, of the Arlington Free Methodist Church, found the Moores’ home stripped of everything but its studs and outer walls, when she visited Feb. 9. Members of those three churches teamed up Feb. 23 to clear out contaminated clay from under the floorboards. Afterward, teams returned twice a month to replace the joists, wiring, insulation, sheet rock, gutters, all the windows and a chimney, as well as painting and replacing siding on the house. Volunteers from the Valley pitched in by installing new plumbing and showers.

FEMA gave the Moores $28,000 for reconstruction, but bids for the job came in at around $150,000. Wessel explained that the Moores live on a fixed income, have never used credit and have never been hit by floods before.

Most of the construction work is done now, and Wessel extended her personal thanks to the many churches, businesses and volunteers, in Arlington and beyond, who contributed to the effort. However, the Moores still need housewares to turn their house back into a home, including:

Living room end tables

Bookshelves

Clock radios for three bedrooms

Four dining room chairs

A dining room hutch

New pots and pans

A mixer and mixing bowls

Bathroom towels

A coffee maker

A hand-crank meat grinder

Two shower curtains and rods

Cabinets for over the toilets