On August 22 Hurricane Ida dropped 17 inches of rain on the Waverly, TN area in less than 24 hours causing massive flooding that was exacerbated further by a debris blockage causing a build up of water that broke loose and flooded over 500 homes and killing 22 people. Because of the apparent stalling of recovery efforts in Waverly 2Serve organized a group to help over a 3 day period. We worked closely with the Compassion Churches in Waverly and McEwen that have been doing an incredible ongoing job of providing food, water, cleaning supplies and other necessities along with coordinating volunteer work teams coming to Waverly. On Sunday our first 5 responders worked to help a handicapped woman stand up a fence needed for a garden, another family with debris removal and a couple having to move out of their flooded apartment complex that was soon to be demolished. The husband has congestive heart failure while his wife is unable to walk and is battling cancer. Due to these constraints they could not evacuate but was able to survive the flood that sent over 2 feet of water through their apartment. We arrived on the last day alloted them to move out and were able to do so with the truck and flatbed trailer Mike Schilt brought to transport his tractor. To add challenges on top of the flood itself the family had no insurance for contents and no comprehensive car insurance for their 2 cars carried away by the flood. The husband lamented the fact of having to choose between the needed insurance to cover their contents and vehicles or paying for their necessary prescriptions to care for their physical maladies. To our knowledge none of the people we helped had flood insurance. Depending on what level one qualified for help FEMA gave between $2,000 to $8,000 to assist with recovery. On Monday we had a team of 33 that completed the move for the couple and started working on getting dry wall, sub-flooring and insulation out of 2 homes. A team of 10 finished gutting most of the second house. Only eternity will tell the true impact of our efforts in Waverly. We always hug the people we serve, pray with them and leave them Steps to Christ and Edge of Time books. 2Serve thanks Ron and Holly Abrams, Mike and Susan Schilt, the four students and 1 staff from Beacon Academy and the 21 students and 2 staff from Highland Academy for their hard work and huge difference they made in the lives of the 5 families we served while in Waverly. We are also very grateful for the help the Kentucky/Tennessee Conference President, Steve Haley, gave by covering our evening meals and connecting us with Pastor Foraker and Deaconess Mary Ann Lewis of the Dickson Seventh-day Adventist Church. They provided us a great place to stay, excellent food for our breakfasts and lunches and arranged for us to get showers at the local YMCA. Without this kind of empowerment it would be very difficult for 2Serve to respond. Please pray for the Waverly community as they appear demoralized and in a state of paralysis in finishing recovery and moving on to rebuilding. We saw very little activity toward rebuilding while there and after 5 weeks piles of rubble still lie everywhere as you will see in the pictures below. The world has moved on from them but they are not able to it appears.