Katrina
FPCB provides a divine makeover
At noon on Friday, December 23, the Quinn family moved into a home prepared especially for them. After loosing everything in Hurricane Katrina, living in a convention center, and being evacuated to Houston, the family was brought to Seattle by Pastor Rickie Willis's True Vine of Holiness congregation. Pastor Edgar Gray of Madison Temple offered to let the family live rent-free for 12 months in a home he inherited. The only problem was that the home was uninhabitable.
Aaron Haskins, of the Coalition for Community Development and Renewal, asked FPCB for help renovating Pastor Gray's home. So, during the last week in September, FPCB's Youth Department demolished and removed two dilapidated carports and a broken down, overgrown shack in the back yard. They also removed blackberry bushes, overgrown trees, and other landscaping debris. Over the next twelve weeks, more than 60 volunteers performed an "Extreme Makeover" on the home and yard. The work included turning one of the kitchens into a den, reorienting the stairway, removing walls, dry walling several rooms, painting inside and out, completely remodelling the kitchen, laying new carpet and flooring for the entire home, buying a new furnace, electrical panel, and exterior doors, replacing half the windows, remodeling the front deck, insulating the house, and putting up a new backyard fence. This was not spring cleaning, it was a divine makeover.
Much of the work was done during the week by a dedicated crew of ten, lead by Jim McWha and Dave Brasher. Jim commented, "This was a rewarding experience for me, meeting new friends, renewing old acquaintances, and working toward a common goal to provide accommodations for a large family of Katrina victims." Nearly 2,000 hours and $30,000 went into the renovation of this Central District home. Alyson McMurtry worked both Saturday work parties and said, "The camaraderie of the groups was something to behold - I've never seen so much hard work accomplished with such joy and laughter."
The Quinn family couldn't get over the fact that a predominately white congregation would do this wonderful makeover for them. Mrs. Quinn kept saying how thankful she was to God for all the people who helped make this "Divine Makeover" possible. Acts of service really do show our community the real Jesus.