Bible family gifted a new beginning
By Ken Leinart
Corryton Church hosted its 22nd Christmas party Saturday morning, Dec. 7, at South Central Elementary School in Chuckey.
For Pastor Rocky Ramsey and Corryton Church it is one of the many ways to show how they love and care about people.
Over the past 22 years, the church has given away nearly $1 million worth of gifts and goods to families in East Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky. Two years ago, it helped a church, a pastor, and families, who were victims of the Hazard, Ky., flood.
A few hours after Saturday’s Christmas party, a single mother in Newport, the mother of two teenage daughters, an educator who teaches kindergarten, also received a blessing from Corryton Church.
Some Corryton members from Newport knew of a single mom who taught kindergarten whose home had been all but destroyed when Helene flooded the Pigeon River in late September.
Brandi Bible was at home with her eldest daughter, Madylyn, who was eight months pregnant, when a neighbor who lived up the road called her on her cell phone.
The neighbor was lucky, living on higher ground than many along the Pigeon River.
A wall of water was heading toward the Bible home, the neighbor warned. Time to head someplace safe.
“It took 17 minutes … And then we were standing in water,” Bible said.
She and her daughter were rescued in a canoe by another neighbor. Bible’s house is about 200 yards from the Pigeon River. The bank of the river is some 15 to 18 feet high. The flooding breached the river bank and another six to eight feet to get above the front and back porches and run a “current” through the Bible home.
“There was a river running through her house,” Corryton Church Pastor of Etc. Grant Rodgers said. “It came in through the front door and was running out the back door.” As the soon-to-be Bible house restoration project manager, Rodgers was called in to look at the damage.
What happened after Ramsey and his wife, Betsy, and Rodgers, met with Bible and saw the destruction seems like something out of a Hollywood movie.
Ramsey said the church was going to have its annual Christmas party in another county, in another community, but after hearing about the flooding in upper East Tennessee he knew they would go there. But then Chuckey, Tennessee, and Brandi Bible were selected.
And that opened the door for so many acts of compassion –unexpected compassion – and outpouring that even Ramsey was surprised.
Bible said 50 friends showed up that very first day. They weren’t asked to show up. They just did.
“We shoveled mud and swept out water, tore down walls,” she said.
Baptist Relief Ministry people came in and tore up the sodden floors of the house.
Then Corryton Church took over.
Bible, her daughters and her mother were put up by Bible’s fiance, Stevie Frazier, who lives about 15 minutes away. She was told to stay away from her home until the project was finished. And Corryton Church had a target date for completion: Dec. 7. Five short weeks away from when they began.
Ramsey said 12 volunteers from Hazard, Kentucky, made the trip to Newport and worked for two days, not just on Bible’s house, but her mother’s house as well. Bible’s mother, Evelyn, lives almost next door to her.
Ramsey said when they started the process he thought he would go to businesses for materials and ask if they would let the church have them “at cost” or a discount. “We’d tell them what we were doing and they’d say, ‘Why don’t we just donate this to you?’” he said.
Electricians, plumbers, carpenters, roofers, landscapers volunteered. Some companies sent crews to work. Ramsey said a man in Kentucky heard about what Corryton Church was doing and donated a new HVAC system. One of two donated.
“Those are what? Ten thousand dollars?” Ramsey said.
A few people outside of the church heard about the project and donated $22,000. A church in Kentucky donated $6,000 toward new furniture.
Companies making donations include East Tennessee Fireplace, Brandon Smith Electric, East Tennessee Rooter and Plumbing, Brookhaven Designs, Top Notch Air, and Turner Exteriors. Two members donated furniture.
Shaw Industries and Broadway Carpet donated flooring. Patterson Appliances donated all the appliances. Quality Plumbing, Heating, Cooling, and Electrical provided the other HVAC units and did all the repair and installation, which included shoveling mud out of the crawl space for ductwork. GAF and Mid-Atlantic Roofing Supply donated shingles to replace the roof. Lansing Supply donated vinyl shakes for the exterior. Your Home Solar donated and installed a solar system for the house. The Cleaning Authority donated a deep clean of the home. A church in Kentucky purchased some of the furnishings. Knoxville Wholesale Furniture and other businesses reduced the church’s costs for what had to be purchased.
Five weeks later Brandi Bible walked into her “new” home.
“Not bad for five weeks,” Rodgers said.
Bible could not hold back her tears during the tour of her home.
The day Bible was rescued from her house was scary, she said. “The water was over the porch and the day that we left we realized everything would be lost that it was really hard, that was heartbreaking. We knew once we left when we came back it would never be the same,” she said.
But even on that day, she said she felt blessed. “Even though I lost my home and my car, I didn’t lose my family or my friends,” she said.
“Coming back today, before I came, I prayed and I knew everything would be different … I knew that God loves me and I was just thankful to have help and thankful to have a fresh start and a new beginning.
“I’ve come back to my home. I missed my home,” she said “There are no words to describe it. Some things are gone and you can’t bring them back but I still have the memories of them.”
She said her home now is, “Totally different, but in a good way. It’s my house, but it’s different.”
And she has a new family. “I didn’t know any of them,” she said about the people of Corryton Church. “And now they’re family. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that you’re loved and they haven’t forgotten you.”
