Crusoe Community

The first project of our trip involved gathering blankets for the people of the Crusoe Community in Whiteville, North Carolina that have all been displaced by Hurricane Florence and lost most everything they owned, including blanket.  Upon arriving in Raleigh, North Carolina, we began making phone calls to department stores around the area.  Most places needed a corporate approval, which we did not have time to get.  We gathered blankets from several Wal-Marts along the way down to Whiteville.  With all of our multiple trips to different stores, we ended up with about 80 blankets to give.  We tied ribbons and attached encouraging notes to each blanket.  

As we were giving blankets away one lady from the Crusoe community expressed her gratitude for these blankets.  She told us that since the Hurricane in September, she has been sharing the bottom bunk bed with her granddaughter.  Her granddaughter has a small unicorn blanket that they share.  Now she has her own blanket and can stay warm with her granddaughter.  So it truly was a need.  It is hard to imagine having no blankets!  These people were very grateful to have new soft blankets to keep warm. 

CRUSOE COMMUNITY LUNCH & BLANKETS

Upon arriving at the First Baptist Church of Whiteville, we got to work planning and prepping tomorrow’s meal.  We cooked the macaroni noodles, flavored the green beans, and washed and cut potatoes.  The next next morning, we finished the macaroni and cheese in about 6 batches to feed 100 people.  We sauteed the potatoes, cooked the corn and green beans.  We loaded it all up and headed to Crusoe.  At the Crusoe fire station they pulled out the fire trucks and we set  up holiday table decorations and 100 chairs and all that food.  Around 1:00 the people of Crusoe began to trickle in and we got to meet these people we had tried to research.  The firefighter lady who had rescued everyone’s animals In the flood, and whose home the other mission group was mucking, was there.  We learned stories of heartache and suffering.  But positive joy in the journey as the people are trying to keep getting by. 

THE FAMILIES

The families of Crusoe have a deep and fascinating history.  They are a unique group of people somewhat isolated by the Waccamaw river and swamplands.  There is only “one way in and one way out” of the “island” of Crusoe.  They are a tight knit group of individuals who care deeply about one another.  One family we met had lived next door to the fire station.  The grandmother, Donna, and grandfather, George, had their 4 grandchildren with them.  Nicole (12), Dalton (10), and 6 year old twins Maddox & Jackson had 3 year old twin siblings at home.  All 8 of them have been displaced from their home next door to a small 2 room trailer at the dead end of Crusoe Island.  They lost everything.  Insurance won’t work with them, and the city will not dam up the river, and FEMA gave them a little to get by, but they have no idea how they will ultimately recover from Hurricane Florence.  I hope that Praying Pelicans will work on their home next, get it mucked, gutted, and prepped for rebuild.  These people are so humble.  They have a Christlike love and humility and are doing the best that they can given the circumstances.  

THE HOMES

Almost everyone in the community has been displaced and cannot live in their home.  Some are working on rebuilding their homes, while others do not have the resources to do so.  The other Praying Pelicans mission youth group had been mucking out homes.  “Mucking” means to carry outside all of the furniture, belongings, stuff and debris that is left inside the wet moldy homes and take it outside into a huge pile to trash or burn.  This “mucking” requires special Tyvek suits, masks, and gloves to protect from airborne mold and other contaminants.  We did not participate in this effort because of the ages of our kids, but we did see the piles of debris and heard stories of the youth group that did this great service.  They found photos and items and had to help decide if they were worth saving or tossing because they were covered in mold or mud.  The owners of the homes being mucked were extremely grateful for the extra hands, but also gave them a difficult grieving experience as they witnessed the things that they once treasured being unusable and destroyed.  Some of the youth went under the homes on their stomachs to pull down the duct work and insulation in the crawl spaces of the homes.  We saw their work after the fact and realized what difficult, muddy, disgusting work that was, and how grateful the people were for that work.