Volunteers pitch in for another victim

The Jefferson City Community Center is seeing an outpouring of support after the historic building and longtime hub for the black community was severely damaged by Monday's flash floods.

Volunteers from Disaster Relief Missouri, Concord Baptist Church, Lighthouse Preparatory Academy, SOMA Community Church, Lincoln University, Adolos Ministry of Springfield and others have helped the center start to recover from the six feet of floodwater that gushed into the basement.

"What they've done is amazing. Amazing. Amazing. Amazing," said Donna Stallings, secretary of the center's board of directors.

The community center is located at 608 E. Dunklin St., across the street from the LU tennis courts. It is designated as a city Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

It's also located beside Wears Creek, which is prone to flash flooding.

Monday morning's flash floods were more severe than any in recent memory. Rather than a buildup of water, like during the Flood of '93, this one came in a rush. Among other things, this week's flooding along the creek damaged park property, forcing the closure of the Washington Park Ice Arena and may have led to the death of a man whose body was found in the water near Washington Park.

At the community center, flooding was confined to the basement, but damage was extensive. Rushing water broke the hinges off five doors, knocking them off their frames, Stallings said. Tables and chairs were overturned. Appliances, tools, decorations, books and other items in storage were caked in mud, rocks and grass. The bottom seven or eight steps leading to the basement will need to be replaced.

It all happened as SOMA Community Church, affiliated with Concord Baptist, was starting its annual Vacation Bible School. The theme: "Submerged." Banners and decorations of an octopus and sea life adorned the walls on the main floor.

The coincidence of the all-too-real theme didn't escape Stallings, who quipped playing out the VBS theme this way was "not what we intended."

That VBS has been moved to the nearby Concord Baptist Association.

The center is used for many events. Local churches often rent it for camps, and it's sometimes used for reading clubs. Second Baptist Church holds its Easter egg hunt there. LU uses it for math/science and agriculture programs for kids, and a local soccer team practices out back. Concord Baptist Church rents the center on Saturdays for its Sunday on Saturday (SOS) program, part of the church's community outreach.

Initially, Stallings was discouraged by the flooding. Remodeling was in the plans for this year in anticipation of the building of a planned community splash park near the center.

"I said, 'This isn't my way of remodeling, God, but if it's your way,'" she said.

But she's since been overwhelmed by support. One of the organizations stepping in to help is Disaster Relief Missouri, a St. Martins-based arm of the Missouri Baptist Convention.

Joe Banderman, the group's disaster relief collegiate coordinator, brought three college students working with the program this summer. They came directly from a disaster relief project in Texas.

Both Banderman, who is white, and Stallings, who is black, agreed with all the race-related tension on a national level, it's nice to see colorblind cooperation on a local level.

Banderman said skin color doesn't play a factor in who they help. The primary factor, he said, often is, "Do you have mud in your basement?"

"If you look at the history of this building in this area, this is where blacks were supposed to stay," Banderman said. "When it was built we wouldn't be able to be here. Now, we're helping each other out."

Stallings said her initial discouragement has turned into encouragement with all the assistance they've received.

"I'm actually a little excited now, which seems crazy," she said.