Milwaukee homeowners are grateful for the work and witness of Samaritan’s Purse volunteers.
After floodwaters washed through Aretha Robertson’s neighborhood, an army of Samaritan’s Purse volunteers showed up at her Wisconsin home to help salvage mementos and remove waterlogged belongings.
“From the second that they stood on my grass, it felt warm,” she said. “It made me feel like it was going to be OK.”
Despite devastating loss, Aretha Robertson’s faith was greatly encouraged by Billy Graham chaplains and Samaritan’s Purse volunteers.
Aretha had faced several trials throughout her life: financial problems, health issues, and family loss. But she had never expected to have four feet of rainwater fill the basement of her house in the heart of Milwaukee.
“I knew it was rainy that night,” Aretha said, remembering the storm on Aug. 9, “but about five o’clock that morning, my neighbor called and said, ‘I think you need to get up and go look in your basement.’”
As she made her way downstairs in her home of 28 years, she was met by a musty stench wafting through the kitchen. She cracked the door open, only to see murky water making its way up the steps. Aretha watched in disbelief as her possessions floated through the once habitable space. Not knowing where the water was coming from or how to get it out, all she could do was wait.
“It was so out of the blue,” Aretha said. “There’s nothing you can do.”
Volunteers served as the hands and feet of Jesus by helping homeowners remove waterlogged items from their flooded basements.
Upon their arrival, the volunteers jumped into action by hauling debris up the stairs and out of the house. It had taken two weeks for the rainwater to drain from her basement, which resulted in mold growth. So, our teams sprayed Shockwave throughout the basement to prevent further spread.
“What struck me was that you can drive through a neighborhood and all the houses appear to be perfect,” said Clif Forrester, a Samaritan’s Purse site leadership team member. “You don’t know what is going on inside that house.”
While Aretha knew about God and prayed to Him, she felt exhausted from handling everything on her own and was in need of some hope. Through the encouragement of Samaritan’s Purse volunteers and Billy Graham Evangelistic Association chaplains, Aretha felt her love for Christ reignited.
“They made me feel like, no matter what,” she said, “as long as I believe that God gave His only begotten Son to die on the cross for our sin, that I’ll be saved. And I accepted it [the Gospel] again.”
Volunteers have been serving in Wisconsin since August, helping homeowners clean out houses and treat for mold.
She was also given a Billy Graham Training Center Bible signed by our volunteers, which has become a treasured possession.
Team Patriot Serves Veteran Impacted by the Flood
Army and Navy veteran Delorse Harrington, one of Aretha’s good friends, was displaced from her home of 34 years when the forceful storm broke down a wall in her basement, allowing a surge of mud and rainwater to pour in. The rain came down at such an unprecedented speed that the sump pump malfunctioned and failed to turn on.
Army and Navy veteran Delorse Harrington’s basement filled with water after unprecedented rainfall. Samaritan’s Purse responded with an army of volunteers to help with the clean up.
It wasn’t until the morning after the storm when Delorse walked around her property that she saw a five-foot gaping hole in the back of her house. She covered it with a tarp as a temporary fix, keeping additional rainwater and animals out of her house. An insurance adjuster had quoted her $25,000 just to clean out the debris, a cost her military pension could not cover.
After seeing a neighbor served by a group of people wearing orange shirts, Delorse contacted Samaritan’s Purse for help. They offered to come and assist with removing her muddied possessions.
“I said, ‘You want to look and see first?’” Delorse recalled, thinking the project may be too much. She received the answer, “Oh no, we are here to work.”
Delorse was pleasantly surprised when a team of 11 veterans arrived in a box truck with the words “Team Patriot” printed on the side. The volunteers were alumni from Operation Heal Our Patriots, the Samaritan’s Purse ministry to military couples.
2021 Operation Heal Our Patriots alumni Scott and Melissa Riddle served in Milwaukee with Team Patriot.
“Team Patriot is just another chance for us to give back as well as stay connected with each other,” said 2021 alumnus and Arkansas native Scott Riddle, who now serves with his family through Team Patriot as a site leadership team member. “And just continue on with the will of God and be the hands and feet of Jesus that He’s called us to be.”
Delorse was surprised that the veterans who cleaned out her basement did not charge a penny.
“I thought that because of my situation with all the mud, there may be something I might have to pay,” she said. “But they assured me I didn’t.”
While Delorse felt blessed by the volunteers who showed up to serve, she was also an encouragement to them. Scott expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to help a fellow veteran.
Volunteers are hard at work serving homeowners throughout the Milwaukee area. Please keep impacted homeowners and our teams in your prayers as we help in Jesus’ name.
“She was such an inspiration for us. When we get into our trials that we face every day, God provides us with what we need in every circumstance. God needed us to be there to help her,” he said. “We’re just neighbors. We might be several states away, but in the end, we’re all just neighbors. It’s such an honor to serve our fellow brothers and sisters.”
