Mennonites Dervin Shelley and Darren Seibel install the new ceiling in Gloria Sundquist’s home. The Mennonites began construction work in mid-January, then returned Feb. 9 to install floors, hang doors, put in cabinets, add trim and paint. (Photos Provided)HOT SPRINGS — Gloria Sundquist wasn’t always a “mountain woman,” but after taking a camping trip to Hot Springs in 1995, she never left. Weathering Tropical Storm Helene with help from St. Andrew the Apostle Parish and other faith-based organizations has given her a new title: “survivor.”
When Sundquist woke up the morning of Sept. 27, her home had no electricity, no phone service and no internet. The nearby French Broad River was swollen, water starting to spill over the banks. It was only 8 a.m. As the sun rose, so did the water. By 9 a.m., Sundquist thought the river should have crested, but it showed no sign of letting up. At 10 a.m. she looked at the river’s edge from her back porch, the water still rising.
“I quickly realized this was far worse than the flood in 2004 from Hurricane Ivan,” she later recounted.
A harrowing morning
Gloria Sundquist’s home was devastated by Tropical Storm Helene. Chris Martin, Allen Groff and four other Mennonites from Lock Haven, Pa., are helping rebuild her home. From then until noon, the river raged, swallowing Sundquist’s land minute by minute, inch by inch. Her home and a small piece of land under it turned into an island surrounded by the raging French Broad River. She started praying – she couldn’t leave, but she couldn’t stay, so she just watched with her pets at her side while her sanctuary was washing away around her.
“It sounded like a pipe had broken underneath the house, but it was the river,” she said. She could feel the water coursing under the floorboards.
She watched the water rise over the back porch steps, then break through the bottom of the sliding glass doors and creep across the floor.
Every minute felt like another foot of water. Soon enough, her cats, disliking the wetness beneath their paws, started jumping on windowsills, counters and chairs to escape.
Sundquist pulled down her attic ladder, ran after the cats, and tossed each up to higher ground. As one would jump up, another would jump down, but finally she was able to capture all six. By this time, the water was up to her waist and her windows looked more like portholes. She watched her coffee table float, then her favorite lamp, the couch, and eventually the refrigerator.
Sundquist could wade through the water, but her dog Marble could only do his little dog paddle. Water started seeping through the home’s old screenless windows. Hope was fleeting. She knew there was no way she could get 100-pound Marble into the attic while trying to stay balanced herself.
When she felt like she had no strength or options left, she heard a male voice calling outside her window.
“Gloria, Gloria, are you in there? Come here!”
Through the window she saw a raft containing four men she knew: Hot Springs Rafting Company owner Rodney McCall, her electrician Chris Pelletier, and friends Chad Ault and Chris Lafond.
Their raft approached one of her home’s windows, and Sundquist was able to climb aboard with their assistance.
Pelletier grabbed Marble, and they paddled out against the roiling floodwaters, towed by another boat with a gas motor.
When they finally reached dry land, Sundquist was greeted with hugs, a blanket and dry clothes.
Sundquist said later, “I knew this thing was bigger than me. I had peace. I can’t explain it; when I couldn’t do any more than what I did, those men showed up in time.”
Volunteers assemble to help
Sundquist’s century-old house had survived the 1916 flood and had good bones, but after Helene, the bones were all that was left. The water had risen to about seven feet. The floors of the house looked like a wavy ocean, the mud was thick, and nothing was salvageable.
Those first few days in the storm’s wake, volunteers and friends found their way to Sundquist’s home.
They brought hot food in styrofoam boxes, gave her a new camper to live in, and a 2002 Toyota Corolla to drive.
Her six-acre plot was a pile of sand with uprooted trees and debris blocking the view of the now-placid river.
Volunteers from Samaritan’s Purse, Assistant Pastor David Cisneros of Calvary Chapel Baptist Church, and a family of seven from Wisconsin worked tirelessly to help – shoveling mud, demolishing water-logged walls, and burning piles of debris. They sang hymns as they worked, and one of the daughters wrote “Halleluyah” in mud on the side of the house.
When all the mud was cleared, Sundquist started to feel helpless and overwhelmed. People told her to sell and get a mobile home.
“If you had seen this place gutted, there was no hope, and that’s what everybody was trying to say – there’s no hope,” Sundquist recalled. “But I thought God wanted me to rebuild. This is my home.”
St. Andrew parishioners jump in
Meanwhile in Marshall, St. Andrew parishioner Irma Fiordalisi and her husband Glenn received word from a Mennonite friend from Lock Haven Mennonite Church in Pennsylvania that they wanted to bring a work crew to help rebuild in the area. Fiordalisi had the perfect candidate in mind: her longtime friend Sundquist.
“Right then, me of little faith had someone with so much faith show up,” Sundquist said.
With the help of the Mennonites and the guidance of her steadfast volunteer “angel” Jason Maldaner, CEO of Farm & Home Pro, plus countless others, rebuilding became a possibility. The only thing missing was money to pay for it all.
St. Andrew donates $20,000
Kelly Hansen was St. Andrew’s parish secretary before the storm. After Oct. 3, she also became relief center coordinator, volunteer recruiter, grief counselor, grant writer and hope giver. While other donation centers have since closed, Hansen and her team of eight volunteers remain open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, except Sundays.
Hansen sees anywhere from 10 to 20 families a day. Some need tents, some need propane for heat, and some just need a listening ear.
“When you go through something traumatic like that, you need to tell it over and over,” Hansen explained.
Between handing out diapers and Catholic Charities gift cards to WalMart, Hansen created a grant application for flood victims awarding up to $50,000 in building supplies.
“When I put the word out there, we immediately in the parish community heard about Gloria … everyone was grateful to hear that St. Andrew might be helping her,” Hansen said.
Fiordalisi had never filled out a grant application before, but with the help of contractor Jason Maldaner they created a $20,000 material list to repair Sundquist’s home.
“Everything fell into place – Irma had volunteers (the Mennonites), and we had the grant so we could pay for the materials so the volunteers could get to work,” Hansen said.
The Mennonites arrive
In the aftermath of the flood, a message of hope was written in the mud. The crew of six Mennonites drove their big trucks towing trailers full of equipment from Lock Haven to Hot Springs in mid-January, during the coldest weeks of winter. They stayed for a week at St. Andrew parishioners Ben and Terri Geraci’s home with a mission to serve.
“I wanted to do something to help the people who were hurt by the flood,” said Terri Geraci. “This was perfect because Gloria is one of my best friends in the community.”
While the Mennonites toiled in the snow, installing subflooring, wiring and framing the walls, Fiordalisi, her husband and friends brought sandwiches to the site, warm meals after long days, and stocked the pantry with snacks.
“The fact that so many people worked together so well, I just think it was special,” Fiordalisi said. “We were focused on getting Gloria the hope that she needed, and it was fulfilling to do so.”
The Mennonite community arrived back at the Geraci home Feb. 9 to continue construction. The focus this time was painting, hanging doors and trim. The Mennonite community, along with Maldaner and Pastor Cisneros, have pledged to keep working until Sundquist walks into her fully remodeled home.
Hansen hopes to one day visit all the people she is helping and see Sundquist’s completed house.
“I wouldn’t elect to have all this disaster happen again, but I wouldn’t trade the experience. We are proud of what we are doing up here. We have helped so many people. It is beautiful – there are no faith boundaries, we are all God’s children, and it doesn’t matter what church we go to when it comes to helping one another because the scripture says the same thing to all of us: ‘Love your neighbor.’”
What does Sundquist say? “This is the house that God has built. He has rebuilt this home with His people, and it is going to be so beautiful.”
— Lisa Geraci Editor’s note: Ben and Terri Geraci are the father and step-mother of reporter Lisa Geraci.
How to help
There has been an outpouring of assistance from people in the diocese, across the country and around the world. Continued assistance is still needed as the relief focus has shifted toward long-term recovery assistance. Here’s how you can help people in need, or get assistance if you live in the affected areas:
Donate money
Monetary donations are the fastest, most flexible and most effective way to support emergency relief efforts. Local responders on the ground can use the funds to help people with immediate as well as long-term needs. Give securely online: www.ccdoc.org/helenerelief.
Need help?
- Reach Catholic Charities via an online request form and/or local contact information at www.ccdoc.org.
- North Carolina 2-1-1: Use the state’s info hotline (call 211 and press 1, or go online to www.nc211.org) to find information about getting food, water and shelter; finding loved ones; checking current road conditions; filing damage and insurance claims; and other issues.
- FEMA assistance: Go to www.disasterassistance.gov, call 800-621-3362, or download and apply through the FEMA app.
Add your prayers
The diocese has an online prayer request form at: www.charlottediocese.org/form-prayer-request.