- September 12, 2024
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The Plain Compassion Crisis Response, a Mennonite organization, travels across the country, from its home in Pennsylvania, responding to disasters like tornadoes, floods, hurricanes and forest fires.
PCCR's Joseph Miller said there is a close relationship between the Amish and Mennonite communities.
Those friendships will help with facilitating the relief efforts in Sarasota’s largely Amish community of Pinecraft, he said.
The community is something of a vacation site for many Amish and Mennonite people, he said, although since Hurricane Debby, the scene has been far from idyllic.
A journey down the community’s streets sees piles of furniture, mattresses and household items lying outside, as residents clear their houses, often tearing out damaged walls and pulling up flooring.
As of Aug. 9, the organization has a handful of volunteers at its base in Pinecraft, where it is staging outside the Yoder’s Amish Village restaurant.
Miller said it’s working on sourcing skilled volunteers, from wherever they will come from in the country, including the local area if possible.
The levels of flooding seen in Hurricane Debby have been historic for Sarasota as a whole, and Pinecraft is one location that has seen particularly serious impacts.
For instance, resident Christopher Lee's home on Bellevue Street filled with 42 inches of water, resulting in a water rescue being needed for him and his cat Ella.
“A lot of private volunteer agencies have come through, and that's amazing,” he said on Aug. 10, noting the city had also removed a load of materials from his property.
He said the community had been responsive.
“I've had a lot of people come in to offer to help, but they have their own problems to deal with, and I've hired a group to tear everything out, so I'm trying not to utilize resources that could be better utilized somewhere else,” he said.
He also said that if the repairs to his home exceed 50% of the home's market value, he would be required to elevate the house, based on the rules of the National Flood Insurance Program managed by FEMA.
Chris Miller and his wife, Janelle Miller, ended up moving into their new home quicker than they anticipated, after their home on Bellevue Street flooded in the early morning.
Miller is the head of delivery at Miller's Dutch Haus Furniture, the Amish furniture company owned by his parents Tim and Sarah Miller, and has lived in the Pinecraft area his whole life.
However, he's never experienced anything like the flooding caused by Hurricane Debby, which saw him traveling by boat from his parents' house, back to the house where he and Janelle lived, the Monday after the storm.
“My personal opinion, I think it's the building," he said. "In my mind, you have all these big buildings. … I used to drive around and around here,” he said. “There were fields, there were small groves, and stuff like that around in Sarasota here, and now everything’s condos, everything’s concrete, and I just don’t think there’s a place for the water to settle.”
Joseph Miller hopes the PCCR's work can get fully underway quickly.
“It's bad enough, definitely,” Miller said. “It's not the worst I've seen, by a long shot, but flooding is always hard. Somehow, it brings an air of hopelessness with it. I’m not sure how to describe it. Something about everything being wet and smelly and horrible and gross, and it just wears you down.”
The PCCR has already begun with some relief efforts. One home the crew has worked on, is the one where Dennis Fry resides.
They have helped to remove materials from the house including flooring and walls.
"Without them, we'd still be starting," Fry said. "Without them and their organization, we would not have had help today. Special thanks to them, a very well-needed organization.”
