No Judgment

BY TINA V. BRYSON

She could hear the sound of the raindrops keeping time with the beats of her heart as the water hit the tarp that was her roof. She had done her best, to fight through the pain of her arthritic hip that needs to be replaced and her knee with a rod where she once broke her femur, to weigh down the tarp so it wouldn’t blow away. Past times she had paid neighbors or anyone that would help to put stumps, bricks, or anything that might hold it down. The rain came anyway. The wind blew the tarp roof askew and it was like it was raining on the inside. Karen Moore made it through that night, and many more like it, but the worst was still to come.

“Even before the flood, the house was falling apart,” Moore said. “I had so many water leaks in the roof that my floors were falling through in the bathroom and the kitchen. There were big holes everywhere. I couldn’t afford to do much.” Moore had been on the waiting list with Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) for two years to get all the repairs done. She was looking forward to getting the work started, then COVID-19 protocols were put in place. Before repairs could be scheduled, her home, where she has lived for nearly four decades, could not withstand the deluge that accompanied the historic spring floods in 2021.

“I had MacGyvered my house,” she said with a laugh. “I had a board, a little smaller than a 2x4, where I could stand in my kitchen. I had another board stuffed underneath my commode because the flooring was just gone. That board was the only thing that kept the whole thing from falling through.”

But when the floods came, the floor in the kitchen just dropped down, and what remained of Moore’s makeshift kitchen sink was destroyed.

Ron Morrow, a crew leader in CAP’s Home Repair Program, was doing flood assessments in the area, and learned that Moore was already on the waiting list. He made her a priority to get the job done.

Moore received a new front and back porch. Both were rotted and she had MacGyvered them too with a clear path of boards to step on to keep from falling through. She received a new roof, windows, and flooring too. Volunteers from Crossroads Christian Church in Kentucky and Ohio helped make Moore’s home safe, warm, dry, and accessible.

“It feels good to just be able to stand up to my new sink and wash the dishes,” she said. “Or go to the bathroom at night without fear of falling off the commode, which was not very stable, or maybe even falling through the floor.” She is grateful for everyone that helped make her house a home.

“I had a lot of anxiety because I knew I didn’t have the money and it was getting to where I was going to be homeless, I really was,” she said. “I told the volunteers when they were here how much I appreciate them. It means so much to me and I didn’t feel any judgment from them about the condition my house was in.”

She added, “I love every one of them. There are just no words. They helped when they didn’t have to and that means the world to me.”

(Above) Karen Moore stands at her new kitchen sink without fear of falling through her floor after CAP’s Home Repair Program made needed repairs. (Below) Volunteers from Crossroads Christian Church in Kentucky and Ohio help make the repairs.